L i m e r e n c e
by Ariannette
Summary: After a drunken one night stand together, JJ and Reid are faced with the predicament of what to do. JJ's guilt over the incident causes her to commit further to Will, and Reid attempts to fill the disappointment of JJ not wanting him, with someone else. But will it work?
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This story begins right after Season 3 Episode 16 Elephant's Memory. It goes AU at the end of the episode, for reasons that are necessary Reid is unable to save Owen Savage._

* * *

LIMERENCE

 ** _.exordium_**

 _"_ _Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape."_

 _-_ **William S. Burroughs**

The thing is, that in order to understand the cause and effect of what came to be, you have to know how it all started. And that means the beginning of it all, the day the day that Penelope Garcia turned thirty.

Incidentally, it was the same day that the BAU had worked a case in West Bune, Texas. Where a bullied teenage boy had taken vengeance on everyone who had abused him. In the end, Reid had taken off his safety vest and tried to talk to Owen, but one of the local cops had shot him just as Owen had moved his gun.

It was the second teenager that had died in front of Dr Spencer Reid, and it was the second teenager that he'd empathized with. The boy- Owen had suffered years of bullying, something that hit too close to home with Reid.

JJ could still remember how her heart had felt when she'd heard the gunshots outside the Sheriff's office. She'd been tending to Jordan- Owen's girlfriend when her heart had stopped. The fear was palpable, once she remembered that Reid had gone outside without his vest. It was something so intense, something so terrifying that she hadn't thought twice about dropping the cup of water in her hand and running outside. But then she'd seen him standing, frozen over the body of Owen- and JJ had felt a sense of relief wash over her.

The loss they'd had that day hadn't been taken lightly. The entire ride on the Jet back to Quantico, Reid had sat alone- looking out the window silently.

From time to time, JJ would let her eyes travel from the file she was holding, to look at him, knowing it was taking a toll on him, far greater than anyone else- when her phone vibrated.

It was Will, letting her know that he was going to have to take a later flight out to Quantico. They had been planning a weekend together for over a month, something she had yet to tell the rest of the team. They shared so much, that she had been trying to keep their relationship a secret, until she was sure it was going somewhere.

"So you in tonight?" Morgan interrupted her thoughts, and she blinked- looking up at him.

JJ smiled up at him and put the file down, letting out a skeptical breath, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Penelope's birthday. We're all going on to celebrate it, remember?"

"Oh- right. I don't know Morgan. With this last case-I don't think I'm up for that."

That wasn't the entire truth, but she wasn't about to share the truth with him. And that was a certain southern gentleman she had started seeing from New Orleans, with a southern drawl to die for- Will LaMontagne. Ever since they had worked the case about the Ripper out in New Orleans, they'd began dating and Will had even visited her a few times out in Virginia.

Morgan leaned on the table and turned to give Reid a look too, then turned back to her, "Maybe that's exactly why we should do it. Besides with everything that's happened to Garcia, don't you think she deserves some attention?"

He had a point, and the more she thought it over, the more she realized that Penelope would never forgive her for missing her birthday bash.

JJ inhaled deeply and smiled, then lowered her voice a little while casting a glance at Spencer, "Of course- you're right….What about-"

"Don't worry about the Reid, I'll get him there."

"Like he'll agree to go", JJ flickered her eyes over at him again then back at Morgan with a whisper, "You and I both know where he was the other evening. He could-"

"Which is exactly why I'm bringing him along….I remember what happened too. It hasn't been that long. Trust me, what the kid needs is some fun…what could go wrong?"

JJ nodded. Morgan was right. What could possibly go wrong, with letting Reid have some fun?

xxxoxxxo

 _Quantico- BAU office_

Days like these were the ones where Reid truly questioned what he was doing in the BAU. If he, a conventional genius with an IQ of 187 couldn't save a teen, then what was the point?

He placed a strand of his hair behind his ear as he filed away the latest case they'd just been on, and went to grab his messenger bag, to leave- when he was startled by Morgan.

"Hey Kid- want to carpool with us to the bar?" He asked lightly.

Reid blinked back the surprise of Morgan's presence and smiled nervously shaking his head, "No. Thanks, but I think I'm going to pass. Not really in the mood."

Morgan snickered, and offered him his signature half smile, placing an arm around his shoulders and pulling him towards the glass double doors of the BAU.

"Like hell you are. Look man, you need to relax, and Penelope will never forgive you for missing her birthday."

It would have been relatively easy to continue to argue with Morgan until he got his way. After all, his head was swirling with the decision that he'd made on the jet ride, and his chest had been filled with anticipation of the half-full bottle of Dilaudid that he kept in his medicine cabinet.

He wasn't going to take it- he never did, after all it had been ten months. But there was something strangely comforting about holding it in his hands, and knowing the power he had over it.

However, the more he'd thought about it- the more he knew just how vulnerable he was at that moment. And the sudden fear that he'd felt when just a thought of that vial, ignited a cool rush at the pit of his stomach, made him think that perhaps, being alone was not the best decision at that moment.

So he smiled back complacently, and blinked, "So…where to?"

xxxoxxxo

 _PGs Bar_

It came as no surprise to Reid that Garcia's bar of choice was just as quirky and eccentric as she was. There were upside down Japanese cherry blossom parasols hanging from the ceiling and china tea sets that had been super glued to the walls.

On any other given day, Reid knew that he would have already been explaining the contradictions in the bar's decor, but he couldn't muster the energy to care. But also, normally at that point, he knew that Morgan would have been fishing for the reason of his sulking and would have attempted to make him feel better, but he was too preoccupied that night with making sure Garcia was enjoying herself. After her near death experience, he'd been doing everything to make her happy.

And to be honest, Reid was relieved. He didn't want attention from Morgan or anyone else on how he felt. Instead there was a comforting note about basking in his despondency that he liked. Even while he sipped from an ambiguous blue drink that Garcia had ordered for him.

It had only a tinge of alcohol in it from what he could tell, and therefore had let himself enjoy the second one, without regard of how much alcohol he was actually consuming.

"Have you seen Prentiss?" a slightly inebriated JJ asked him, taking the stool next to him at the bar.

Reid nodded his head, and rested both elbows lazily on the bar, "I saw her leaving with one of the bartenders. She thought she was sneaking out, but I caught her."

JJ raised both her eyebrows, and took a sip of Reid's drink without asking him. Her eyes popped open and looked up at him, "What is this? Its really good?"

He shrugged his shoulders, motioning for the bartender to come over, "I have no idea, Garcia ordered it for me….Speaking of which, have you seen either her or Morgan?"

Reid searched the bar with his squinting eyes, but couldn't spot them.

"I'll have one of these please", JJ told the guy making the drinks and turned back around to Reid, "I can't believe they ditched us."

"They wouldn't do that. Besides, its Penelope's birthday, I doubt she would have already left. Don't you think?"

JJ raised an eyebrow, taking a sip from her drink and smiled, "If she got lucky, I doubt she'd even say goodbye. What about Morgan?"

"Didn't you see him with that brunette? I'm pretty sure he left with her." he slurred to JJ, finishing the rest of his blue cocktail.

JJ frowned, "Wow. I guess its just the two of us then. Want to share a cab?"

Reid nodded, a little relieved that everyone had apparently left. He had been more than ready to leave an hour before, and the invitation from JJ to share a cab was perfect.

But as he got up from the stool to take out his wallet, he realized that he'd left it in his messenger bag at Quantico.

"What's wrong?" asked JJ, who'd already paid for her drinks.

Reid bit his lip, and looked at her embarrassedly, "I left my wallet in my bag at the office…"

xxxoxxxo

 _Next Morning_

 _JJ's Apartment_

There were always a few minutes in the morning, right when JJ woke up, where she could enjoy the silence and the rays of sun that came in through her window. Her apartment was one of the only units in the building that got a lot of natural light, and it always reminded her of her home in Vermont.

For a few seconds she could almost pretend that she lived a normal life, a life where serial killers were just a distant thought. Where her biggest worries were what she was going to have for breakfast, and what she was going to do that day.

But when JJ blinked her eyes open on that particular morning- she didn't see the sun or a familiar ringing of her phone- no what her eyes took in made her stomach drop.

What she saw was a slumbering, naked, slightly snoring Reid laying in bed next to her.

Without thinking much about it, she got up in a fright and pulled her satin robe off the chair close to her bed, wrapping it around herself. JJ ran a hand down her hair and let her feet tread silently on the wooden floor of her apartment, attempting to remember the events of the night before.

She knew that they'd all drank to celebrate Garcia's birthday, but she hadn't drank _that_ much.

It was in the middle of her muddled thoughts, that she heard a groan and turned to see him move in her bed. She watched as he quickly realized he wasn't in his own bed, and sat up- but soon regretted it, because he held his head in his hands.

"Hi", JJ whispered shakily, with a couple fingers to her lips and wide eyes.

Reid looked up, letting his mouth drop open before swallowing, "JJ?"

His chest rose and fell and JJ watched as he turned his eyes away from her to search the room before speaking up again, "Wha-what am I doing here?"

She swallowed and attempted to stay calm, "I don't know?"

"Did we…?" Reid couldn't finish the sentence.

JJ couldn't answer, merely searched her room to see the evidence. Both their clothes had been carelessly thrown throughout her room. She didn't need anymore evidence to know what had happened.

Before either of them could say anything else, JJ's phone began to vibrate, and she quickly picked it up to see the message.

She swallowed, "We have to go to the office- we have a new case."

* * *

 _Chapter 1 Preview:_

 _"This is a complete mess. What if they can tell?" JJ murmured, biting the tip of her fingertip._

 _Reid, who had awkwardly bent down to tie his shoe in the elevator, shrugged his shoulders, "JJ, I doubt anyone will be able to tell what happened. Besides, if anyone asks, we'll tell them the truth. That I slept over because I left my keys here."_


	2. Touch

**N/A:** Slight warning- In NO way will this turn into a horror/supernatural story. So just keep in mind that the references that I make below are simply for amusement. It's merely entertaining to see Reid in the middle of something he's unfamiliar with. Anywho, I hope you enjoy it! P.S. This is my first Criminal Minds fic, I'm more of a **House MD** expert. So please- be gentle with me.

* * *

 **Limerence**

 _"If you asked me how many times you've crossed my mind,_

 _I would say once,_

 _because you've never really left."_

 _-_ **Unknown**

Une

There had been mostly silence on their way to the BAU office. They had left her apartment without a word, walked to the metro station letting the morning breeze hit their face with a refreshing slap. It was only while they were in the metro, that they had briefly broken their silence to talk about the next case that they were working on and then there was silence once again.

They walked into Quantico with not so much as a word between them. Neither had a clue of what to say, to fill the awkward quietness between them.

Actually, as he thought about it, Reid was sure he had plenty to talk about. For instance he'd thought about bringing up the fact that the elevator they were currently in hadn't had its yearly inspection, which actually frightened him. Then there was also the history of elevators he could bring up, like the fact that elevators had been designed by the Roman architect Vitruvius around two-hundred and eighty-seven BC, who had originally used hemp rope to power the levers.

Though, the more he thought about his endless amount of trivia, Spencer Reid realized he lacked any desire at that moment, to share it with JJ. There was still the permeating headache that hadn't gone away, his dry throat, and the all over achy feeling throughout his body. It was all from what he'd drank the night before.

He made a mental note to ask Garcia what it was exactly that she'd ordered for him. He was most definitely not ordering that again.

When the elevator became unsteady for a moment, Reid felt a wave of nausea wash over him, leaving him with the desire to empty contents of his stomach all over the elevator tiles. He closed his eyes tightly and labored his breathing, his nose flaring in the process- hoping that the unpleasant feeling would pass.

The looming silence between them had began to create tension in the air, and as each second passed them, Reid could feel a pounding increasing in his chest.

He'd placed both hands in his pockets, resolved in looking blankly at the metal doors in front of them, making sure to avoid all eye contact with JJ.

At that moment, her breathing hitched slightly, but Reid maintained his cool demeanor. It wasn't that he was attempting to be phlegmatic for the sake of looking cool, simply because they had seemingly slept together. It actually had to do with the fact that he was aware that JJ was freaking out, and they both couldn't let their true emotions run them.

If anything, Reid was pretty certain that his anxiety was much worse than JJ's at that moment, and it was taking everything within him to appear unaffected by what had transpired between the both of them.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see that she'd opened her mouth to say something and as a way to shield himself, he looked down at the floor, only to be caught off guard by his untied shoelace.

"This is a complete mess. What if they can tell?" JJ murmured at last. Reid looked up to see her biting the tip of her fingertip.

He cast his eyes back down to his shoe, and awkwardly bent down tie it, shrugging his shoulders at the same time, "JJ- I doubt anyone will be able to tell what happened. Besides, if anyone does ask where I spent the night, we'll tell them the truth. That I slept over because I forgot my keys here."

Above all else, JJ was one of his best friends, and so he made sure to sound as calm and collected as possible, to soothe her worries.

Finally, he had stood back up, and dared to look at her, but she was the one who now had her eyes glued to the floor.

"You're right. We just need to act completely normal, like nothing happened."

Reid swallowed, offering a tight smile, "Exactly."

At last, the elevator doors opened, and they quickly went their separate ways.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

As Reid took a seat at his desk- grabbing his much missed Messenger bag, he glimpsed across his desk to see Morgan also fall into his seat, with a small thud and a loud groan.

He looked up and blinked, offering an amused smile, "Good night?"

Morgan eyed him, with a note of irritation, "You don't look much better yourself…do you know why we got called in on our day off? I had an overdue appointment with my bed."

"There's a serial killer in Forks, Washington. The police department there was been contacted by the rangers in the Olympic National Forest park. So far they've found fifteen bodies scattered throughout the forest in the last two weeks. The most interesting part, is that each victim was exsanguinated." He let out in one breath, feeling the unwelcoming nausea coming back.

Morgan raised a brow, "Right."

Reid blinked, and furrowed his forehead in confusion, "What?"

"You really expect me to believe that?" He asked, sitting up straight and eyeing him once over.

He shrugged his shoulders, confused by Morgan's disbelief, "Why would I make it up?"

"Oh I don't don't know? Maybe because it sounds like something out of Twilight? And Garcia's been talking about it for the past month."

Reid frowned, "Twilight? Is that a TV show?"

Morgan began to roll his eyes, but seemingly had another thought pop into his head, because he looked back over at Reid with another quizzical expression, "How did you hear about the case already? We haven't been briefed…See! You are messing with me."

"I'm not lying. JJ told me about it on the way to the bureau", he defended himself.

Right as Morgan had been about to open his mouth to certainly ask some other perplexing question, Penelope Garcia rolled up with her laptop in hand and a cheery, yet sad smile, "Good morning my pretties. You both look like you're in so much pain."

Reid only nodded slightly, and swallowed, looking up at her, "Garcia- what did you give me last night?"

At his question, Morgan snickered and looked down, pretending to be engrossed at the file in front of him.

"Oh? Did you like it? It's called an Adios," Garcia asked, hopeful.

Reid frowned, pursing his lips in the process, "I'm not sure. I have moments from last night that I'm missing, which is strange…for me."

"Speaking of which, where'd you disappear to Pretty Boy? Garcia and I were looking for you all over the place- Did my boy get lucky?"

 _You have no idea,_ Reid thought _._

He cleared his throat, feeling it go completely dry all of a sudden, but was saved by Hotch calling them in for the briefing of their new case.

{::::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _later_

Later, in the Jet on their way to Forks, after they had discussed the details of the case, JJ found certain parts about the night before coming back to her.

She remembered that they'd left the bar, and they had awkwardly made their way into the cab. That's when Reid had realized that in addition to his wallet, he'd also left his home keys at the bureau. For a fleeting moment they'd considered going to get his things, but realized in their current state, there was no way they could go.

And that's when she'd offered her couch to him. It was Reid after all, one of her best friends at the BAU. They had gone through a lot together, and offering him her couch was the least she could do.

JJ looked over at where he was sitting, having an animated conversation with Prentiss, about something that he'd surely gone off a tangent on. How was it so easy for him to act like nothing had happened?

Reid looked unaffected that they had woken up in the same bed, he seemed collected, as if it were just another day, another case. When he laughed at something Emily said, his lips widened into a smile.

His lips. JJ remembered his lips.

A chill went up her spine as a memory made its way into her head. She could distinctly recall how they'd felt on her own- how they'd perfectly molded with hers, how they'd made their way to her jaw, down to her neck, trailing sloppy kisses in the process.

His hands had cupped her shoulders, pushing them together, so that her chest was pressed against his own. It had all felt so…lustful. He'd been nothing like the Reid she was so used to, and from what she'd experienced- Spencer Reid was no novice.

It was only when her phone vibrated, that JJ realized she'd completely zoned out. She looked down to see an incoming text message from Will.

 _Will._ How could she have forgotten about him? In the commotion of everything that had happened, she'd disregarded the fact that he'd be arriving in Virginia, and she'd promised to pick him up.

Her chest tightened at the thought and she stood up, quickly making her way to the bathroom.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _Meanwhile_

JJ was completely ignoring him- it was weird. In all the years they'd worked together, they had never gotten in a fight, or a disagreement. If anything, after him getting kidnapped by Tobias Hankel, they'd gotten even closer.

So it was odd for him to see her act so disconnected from him, and when she'd made her way to the bathroom on the jet, Reid took a chance to get a cup of coffee.

He excused himself, and tried maintaining a straight hand as he placed a filter in the machine, and poured coffee into it. And for a few minutes, he stood in front of the machine, watching as each drop made its way into the carafe.

After a couple of minutes, the door to the bathroom opened, and JJ stopped when she saw him in front of her.

Reid swallowed, "Hey."

"Hi", she offered back.

"Can we talk?"

JJ smiled, but he could tell it was just in case they had an audience, "Here? Do you really think its the right time?"

He swallowed, "No, but maybe later? I just…I can't remember much. And usually…I remember everything. Its weird, and I have this feeling in my chest that I don't like."

Her eyes scanned the rest of the team behind him, and then made their way back to him again, "Spence- nothing happened."

He frowned at her, "Oh?"

"I'd forgotten that I'd let you take my room, and I was going to take the couch. I guess I must have sleepwalked my way to the room sometime during the night?"

"Do you usually sleepwalk?"

JJ rolled her eyes, and let out a tiny scoff, before walking off, "No."

After she'd walked off, and he'd been left to wait for his mug of coffee, Reid felt a strange unsettling feeling, mixed with disappointment.

{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _Olympic National Forest_

"Do those look like bite marks to you?" Morgan asked, squatting down to look at the latest victim.

A ranger behind them chuckled, "That's what we thought at first too. You wouldn't believe how many tourist we've gotten lately with that Twilight crap."

Reid frowned, still confused over what they were talking about. But, instead he focused on the victim. She couldn't be older than eighteen. The victim was pale, and had on a yellow summer dress.

Reid squinted his eyes, and crouched down as well to look at the gape of the girl's neck. There were two visible puncture wounds by her carotid.

He frowned, "No. There doesn't seam to be any tearing, if anything I would say-"

Just as he'd been about to finish his sentence, a strange image suddenly went through his mind. It was an image of a bare neck.

Slowly, like a slow-motion movie, he remembered the feel of the skin, the beating of a heart, as his lips had grazed the gape. Reid swallowed, feeling his heart begin to rise. Then, slowly, he moved away, letting the face come into view- It was JJ.

Then, as if his mind had suddenly opened the door to a secret room, all the memories from the night before came flooding back, all at once.

Reid recalled every tendril of her hair, the abnormally soft satin feel of her skin, and spouts of shallow breathing she'd let out. But most of all, the memory of her lips on his was like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

Sure he'd been with a couple of girls in what he called his 'rebellious' years at Yale, right before he'd joined the bureau at twenty-one. But neither of the experiences he'd had in the past, could compare to every titillating detail he could recall from the night before with JJ.

Perhaps it was that he was predisposed to liking anything to do with her, simply because of the crush he'd carried for so many years. But there was something that pulled at him, a feeling that told him it had been more than he'd ever experienced before.

"Earth to Reid…Reid?"

He blinked his eyes rapidly and looked back up at Morgan, licking his lips in the process, "Sorry- I-"

"Everything ok man?"

Reid cleared his throat, "Yes. These don't look like bite marks. I'd say they look more like a size seven needle gauge, used to extract blood."

"So like a vampire? Like Twilight?" The ranger spoke up again.

His snap was instant, "What the hell is _Twilight_?"

* * *

Next:

 _"Kid, are you sure you're ok?", he offered with his elbows placed on the table._

 _Reid could imagine what he was thinking. That maybe it had to do something with his catastrophic fall he'd had a year ago. That maybe the last case they'd been on, had triggered some desperation inside of him and he was going down a path of destruction._

 _He wasn't of course, it was much worse than that somehow. There was a strange ache that he felt, when he remembered that JJ had lied to him about what had happened in her apartment._

 _His eyes cast down, to look at the crime scene pictures, and he absentmindedly scratched the side of his face, then smiled up at him unconvincingly, "I'm fine."_


	3. Bloodstream

**Limerence**

 _Previously_

 _"Earth to Reid…Reid?"_

 _He blinked his eyes rapidly and looked back up at Morgan, licking his lips in the process, "Sorry- I-"_

 _"Everything ok man?"_

 _Reid cleared his throat, "Yes. These don't look like bite marks. I'd say they look more like a size seven needle gauges, used to extract blood."_

 _"So like a vampire? Like Twilight?" The ranger spoke up again._

 _His snap was instant, "What the hell is Twilight?"_

 **Chapter 2**

 **Bloodstream**

"It's that movie that's coming out", The ranger said.

Reid looked over at Morgan, a frown etched on his forehead, "I thought you said it was a book?"

"It is! But they're making it into a movie and James Ford is going to be Edward", a younger girl ranger chirped in, suddenly appearing next to the ranger who had brought them there, and had cut off Morgan in the process.

"I think he's like the perfect guy to play him too. Who cares that people say he's british, you know?"

Normally, Reid prided himself with having an abundant amount of patience. He had to with an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory that allowed him to reason the shortcomings of others. But on that afternoon, the presence of the overly excited ranger was beginning to test him. He wasn't sure if it was the situation with JJ or that he still had a humming headache from the night before, but either way he had an itching desire to sputter something condescending back at her.

His eyes searched the body once more, until they landed on the forearm of the victim. When Reid gingerly picked up her arm, he swallowed guiltily, because he felt a chilly euphoric feeling expand through out his body- just because his eyes had caught the sight of several track marks on her forearm.

It struck him, how seeing the obvious needle marks did not elicit ill desired memories of Tobias Hankel, and the torture he'd endured from his split personalities, but instead, his brain had decided to remind him of the numbing pleasure a needle could bring.

After a long pause, he looked back up at Morgan, who had been eyeing him.

"She was drugged. That's why there aren't any ligature marks", murmured Reid looking back down to examine the rest of her, uncomfortable at the attention he'd garnered from Morgan.

His eyes focused on the tattoo that was also on her forearm, "Also this tattoo of the roman numerals was done postmortem."

Morgan looked up at the two rangers, not missing a beat, and covered his face as droplets of rain began to sprinkle on to them,"Did any of the other victims have the same puncture wounds or the tattoo?"

"Yes. Like we said, they were all exactly the same."

Morgan stood back up, as the rain began to pour harder, "I think I'm going to head over to the morgue to look at the other bodies. Rossi's there right now, I'll look for the same needle marks."

Reid nodded, and looked over to the ranger, "Can I get a ride back over to the sherif station? I also want to stop and get a copy of that book on our way back, is there a bookstore around here?"

"I can take you where I got mine", The girl almost leaped excitedly, then added as she looked at Reid, "You know, you kind of look like a vampire yourself."

He snuck a look at Morgan as he began to walk away, and Reid could have sworn there was smirk on his lips.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _Later At the Sheriff Station_

"Any connection you could find with all the victims?" Hotch asked Garcia over the speaker, looking over the file in his hand.

 _"_ _No. Only three out of the fifteen were actually brunettes. They're all from difference socioeconomic backgrounds, different religious affiliations, and all of the victims range in age, none of them knew each other. Also, an interesting tid bit is that all except one of the victims were from outside Forks."_

"What's going on out there?" Reid asked, walking in to the station drenched, with a copy of Twilight in his hands.

JJ had the immediate thought to get up and walk over to him, and take off his blazer to dry it. Because it's what she would have done in the past. But as that thought made its way to her head, she immediately dismissed it, and instead brought her eyes back down to her file.

It was Emily who got up from the table instead, rushed over to him, speaking up in her place, "Geez Reid, what happened? Did you decide to go for a swim?"

"No? It just started raining out of nowhere. Did you guys see that crowd of reporters outside the front of the sheriffs office? I think I even saw a van from San Francisco News-"

"Someone at the station let it out that they've had vampire-like deaths in the forest. And since Twilight is coming out in a couple of weeks, it's getting attention", Prentiss rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Out of the corner of her eye, JJ could tell that Reid had wrapped his arms around himself, and was looking at the map of where the victims had been found. She had a natural desire to go and find a blanket to wrap around his wet shoulders, yet, was too afraid that it would give him the wrong message now.

"Reid, if you want to go back to the hotel to change-" Hotch started saying, only to be cut off by Reid shaking his trembling head.

There was no denying his lips were somewhat blue, but he still refused, "No- I'm fine. I want to re-read through the book though."

"You read Twilight?" Emily asked, picking up the semi-wet book on the counter, and looking at Reid with an astonished face.

"Yes. Clearly there's something in the book connected to this case. I thought maybe it was that there was something in there about all the victims wearing a yellow dress, or the roman numerals we found on their forearms, but I couldn't find anything. If you ask me, if anything I think it has something to do with how badly written it is ", he said without a blink.

"Well both JJ and I have read the book, in fact we've read the second one too- Garcia insisted. Right JJ?" Emily shot her a look.

She finally looked up, to see Reid's eyes on her. It sent a strange vibrating, and uncomfortable feeling through her that she'd never experienced before.

After a few silent moments, they both looked away, aware of the mistake they had just made, and the attention they had gathered.

"Uh-yes. I've read it."

Even after they'd looked away and JJ had answered, there was a discernible silence in the air, which Hotch quickly caught, "Right-"

He was interrupted by the entire Sheriff station going pitch black.

"Dammit! Damn power line down again. This happens every time we have some rain. James, go to the back and turn that generator on won't you?" the Sheriff yelled turning on a flashlight.

They waited silently for a few minutes, while they could hear reporters outside still rolling their camera's, to report about the suspicious deaths and the peculiarities to the Twilight franchise.

Meanwhile, JJ attempted to use the light from her iPhone on the papers she was was supposed to be reading to deliver a press conference on the case. What would had usually taken her only an hour before, had somehow turned into two.

But the truth was, she couldn't concentrate from all the aftershock of what she'd woken up to that morning. As irrational as it was, part of her blamed Will, because if he had taken his flight like he was supposed to, the night of Garcia's birthday- nothing would have happened.

"The powers going to be out until tomorrow, the back up generator seems to be out too", deputy James spoke up, coming back in from the rain.

Though she couldn't see him, JJ heard Hotch take a breath and speak up, "Reid, why don't you go back to the hotel with JJ, maybe you can start a perimeter to try and figure out what the unsub's comfort zone is. Prentiss, we'll meet up with Rossi and Morgan and the morgue to take a look at the other victims."

JJ swallowed about to speak up, but was beaten by Reid.

"Actually, I was hoping to go look at the victims myself. I wanted to see if there was any other forensic evidence I could match from the victim we saw earlier."

"And I was hoping to start compiling some of the eyes witnesses that found the earlier victims. So we can start questioning tomorrow", Prentiss added.

"Good. Prentiss you'll head back with JJ, Reid you're with me."

JJ let out a silent breath of relief.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

"So are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Reid?" Prentiss asked right away, as they pulled out of the sheriff station parking lot.

JJ feigning confusion, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The brunette profiler gave a discernible laugh, "Right. Then what was that in there? The way you two looked at each other was so much more than nothing."

"I think what you picked up on, was the embarrassment of being outed for reading Twilight. Do you realize how that makes me look?"

Prentiss rolled her eyes, "Everyone's reading it."

"Yeah, every _thirteen_ year old. What excuse do us almost-thirty year olds have?"

Emily was quiet for a while. Really, the only noise in the car was the splashing of the rain on the windshield.

After a while, she spoke up, "Good point."

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _Later at the Hotel restaurant_

"Kid, are you sure you're ok?", he offered with his elbows placed on the table.

He looked up from what he was reading, to a table a couple spots over in the small diner, to where JJ was sitting alone, speaking animatedly on the phone. He licked his lips and looked back down at his file.

Reid could imagine what he was thinking. That maybe it had something to do with his catastrophic fall he'd had a year ago. That maybe the last case they'd been on, had triggered some desperation inside of him and he was going down a path of destruction.

He wasn't of course, it was much worse than that somehow. There was a strange ache that he felt, when he remembered that JJ had lied to him about what had happened in her apartment.

His eyes cast down, to look at the crime scene pictures, and he absentmindedly scratched the side of his face, then smiled up at him unconvincingly, "I'm fine."

In front of him, Morgan sipped from his large soda, though Reid could still feel his eyes on him, "Reid…you know that if you need to talk, I'm here man."

As he looked at all the crime scene photos, Reid's mind captured each different victim, each one had been a brunette, and each one had been wearing a yellow summer dress, all had been drugged, and they all had the same roman numerals on their forearm.

"What do you think the significance of the dresses are? It doesn't fit into the book at all. Why yellow?"

Morgan sighed at his evasiveness and shrugged instead, "Aren't you the one with the ideas usually? Boy genius?"

Reid shot him a look, with what he hoped looked like an amused smile, and then frowned, "Traditionally the color is associated with egoism, cowardice- it's also the color of caution."

"So you think the unsub is trying to warn someone? Maybe these girls are surrogates for the real woman he wants to hurt?"

Reid had his lips pursed together and frowned down at all the pictures, "Maybe…and maybe he's given us the date he's going to do it. Look, each victim has these roman numerals on their forearm. We thought they said 1258, but what if its the day he's planning to go after his real target?"

Morgan took one of the pictures Reid was looking at, and stared at it quizzically, "So…you think the real date is in december? If that's the case then he's just started, and he's planning on killing a lot more-"

"No, that wouldn't make any sense. I think he's actually using the format day-month-year. Which would mean the unsub plans on carrying out his last mission on the twelfth of may. But more importantly that this unsub isn't american…"

"How do you figure that?"

"Historically, we're all taught to use the format month-day-year. Have you ever written the day before the month?"

Morgan frowned, "No, that's just weird."

"Exactly."

"So in what country would someone use the day before the month?"

"Well that's just it. We're about the only country in the world that uses this format-"

Morgan sipped from his coffee and sighed, "So basically, you're saying our unsub could be from anywhere around the world."

"What are you boys gossiping about?" Emily asked, scooting into the open seat next to Morgan.

Reid cleared his throat and looked down at the pictures, "We were talking about the case."

He could feel her eyes on him, both of them in fact, but Reid attempted to decipher more from the pictures. For some reason, he felt like there was something he wasn't seeing, and it was right in front of his face.

"Hey I've been meaning to ask you…isn't that what you had on yesterday?" she asked him.

Reid didn't let his fear show on his face and looked up at her, "That's irrelevant to this case."

Morgan's eyes had popped open, and a long cheshire cate smile grew on his lips, "You didn't go home last night did you?"

"Emily you said you read the book too, did you read the second one? Was there anything about the character wearing a yellow dress?"

"Oh no you don't pretty boy, tell us just where were you last night?"

Reid blinked his eyes, "We have fifteen victims that were exsanguinated by a serial killer, drugged, tattooed and left out in the open for us to find, yet you want to know why I'm wearing the same outfit from the day before? Don't you think our time would be better spent trying to figure out who's killing all these girls?"

Both Morgan and Prentiss were speechless, before Prentiss finally broke her silence, "Truce. Actually, why I came was, that the unsub has dropped off a note to who we think will be his next victim. Except, she's not in Forks, or Washington at all for that matter."

Reid frowned, and placed his elbows on the table, crossing his arms and looking at the picture, and read the typed note to himself.

 _Bella,_

 _You fool. You thieve. You adulterer. You will pay._

 _-R_

"You fool…you thieve…", he muttered to himself, working out what the unsub was thinking in his head.

As Reid kept looking over the picture of the note, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, as Prentiss handed Morgan the rest of the notes.

"No way", he laughed.

Reid looked up quizzically, "What?"

Morgan's smile spread, "Did you see who it was delivered to?"

"No?"

"Think blond, LA and a pool."

Prentiss spoke up, handing him the file, "Her name is Lila Archer. She's starring as Bella Swan in the Twilight movie."

Reid swallowed and looked at the picture for twilight poster. Lila was wearing a yellow summer dress.


	4. Trouble

So sorry its taken so long to update this fic. Here is the next chapter (after this it should start getting juicy :)).

* * *

 _Previously…_

 _Morgan's smile spread, "Did you see who it was delivered to?"_

 _"No?"_

 _"Think blond, LA and a pool."_

 _Prentiss spoke up, handing him the file, "Her name is Lila Archer. She's starring as Bella Swan in the Twilight movie."_

 _Reid swallowed and looked at the Twilight poster. Lila was wearing a yellow summer dress…._

 **Limerence**

Chapter Three

. **Trouble**.

"Lila?" Reid whispered more to himself than to Prentiss and Morgan.

He could feel his partners looking at him, yet wasn't able to move his eyes away from the picture of her in the Twilight poster.

"Big fan of her?" Prentiss frowned, confused.

Reid finally looked up and turned his eyes from her to Morgan, who was still smiling, "That's one way of putting it. Reid actually-"

"We had a case a couple years back in LA…Lila had a stalker, it ended up being her assistant, Maggie Lowe. ," he interrupted Morgan.

Prentiss quickly sobered up, and frowned, "Do you think it's possible that this could be her again?"

Morgan shook his head, reading over some of the file notes, "Says here that Maggie was placed at the Camarillo State Mental hospital. She's been in solitary confinement for a couple months now."

"It isn't her MO anyway. Whoever we're dealing with is meticulous, Maggie wasn't," Reid whispered, still reeling over the information.

It was in the middle of his thought and the silence that fell on the diner table between the three agents that Hotch arrived at their table with a crease in-between his eyebrows, "I gather Prentiss has filled both of you in with the new information LAPD has sent us?"

Reid and Morgan both nodded, though Hotch's eyes lingered on Reid for a few moments.

"Yes," Morgan answered for the both of them when he didn't speak up.

"I'd like both of you to head down to LA with Rossi and coordinate with the LAPD. Prentiss, JJ and I will stay behind and work through the evidence we have here."

Reid swallowed and furrowed his eyebrows a little, "Wouldn't it be better if I stayed behind. I think I would be able to help more with the-"

"I don't think so. You have an established rapport with Ms Archer. She trusts you," Hotch insisted.

He paused for a moment to read him before adding, "The jet will be ready to leave within an hour. I expect both of you to be ready."

Without saying anything else, Hotch walked away and over to JJ's table, leaving them alone again.

When he was out of earshot, Prentiss broke out in a smile, "Rapport? Is that code for something else?"

"Yeah for-"

"Morgan", squeaked Reid, unable to hold in his annoyance.

He looked up realizing he'd garnered the attention from Hotch, Rossi and JJ, then cleared his throat, and looked back down at his pile of papers, "Please leave it alone."

"Who knew our boy was a regular casanova?" Prentiss elbowed Morgan.

He could feel his cheeks getting warm and placed a strand of hair behind his ear, gathering all the papers in his file and standing up, "I'm going to go get my stuff for LA. I'll see you guys later."

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

"Geez, what's up with him?" asked Prentiss sipping from her coffee mug, as they watched Reid walk away.

"Don't know. Kid's been weird all day," Morgan murmured with a frown.

in the almost four years that he'd worked with Reid, Morgan had seen an evolutionary change in him. He'd gone from an annoying know-it-all, who couldn't aim a gun if it depended on his life, to a lost kid, who's identity had been put into question by Tobias Hankel.

Everyone had been shocked when Reid had gone down the path Tobias had shown him. Yes, it hadn't lasted long at all, but it had lasted long enough to do its damage to him. Morgan had watched as it made him question just who he was, and why he was working at the BAU.

And though it had been a year, Reid was still recovering, his armor was still weakened. But maybe more than that, Morgan like everyone else who'd been blindsided by his drug stint, was attuned to every sign that could possibly take him back to that same dark place.

There was a sense of responsibility that he felt towards the kid.

"Earth to Morgan," sang Prentiss waving her hand in front of his face.

He looked up at her, snapping out of his thought, "Sorry. I was just thinking-"

"I know," she blinked, pursing her lips for a moment and looking down at her mug.

Though most of the time she brought a much needed lightness to the team, like him, Prentiss understood the severity of what had happened before, and she too felt like Reid's protector- they all did.

When a few moments had passed, she swallowed and carefully nodded her head, shifting closer to him, to whisper, "I remember too. Do you think one of us should talk to him?"

Morgan nodded as he stood up, "I will- during our flight."

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

JJ felt scattered, and it was something foreign to her. She prided herself with being composed, organized and ready for literally anything that could come her way. But there were two things that she hadn't been ready for- and those were falling for Will and sleeping with Reid.

Yes she'd wanted a boyfriend for a while, but when she thought about it, she imagined something casual, something along the lines of what Morgan had- _flings_ \- not someone who was so committed to her, that he'd fly halfway across the country to see her.

She inhaled deeply as she waited for the elevator to her hotel room, and checked her phone- still no message from Will. Not hearing from him made her shoulders tense with such an ache, that JJ closed her eyes, inhaled, and turned her head up and rubbed the back of her neck with her cold fingers.

In the middle of it, the elevator made a faint noise and a second later, the doors slid open, allowing her in, and as she went to press on the number 3 button, she heard the shuffling of shoes racing towards the elevator, and pressed the stop button.

"Wait, please!" called out Reid, and was able to squeeze in his thin frame through the door, with a triumphant smile.

He murmured a thank you through his heavy breathing, but when he looked up to see who'd held the door open for him, his smile faltered for a moment, before he looked away.

JJ gave him a small smile and placed her left hand on her right arm, attempting to act like there was no tension hovering over them. Like things were as they had always been between them, normal.

She swallowed and looked down at her black high heels for a moment, and then looked back up at him, "Hotch told me you and Morgan are headed out?"

Reid's eyes grew, as if he were startled that she was speaking.

He nodded and as he did, he violently sneezed, "Yeah-Excuse me."

JJ realized he was still wearing his wet clothes from the day before, "Are you getting sick?"

Reid sniffled and adjusted the strap on his shoulder, shaking his head, "No. Must be allergies. We're going to go question Lila."

She nodded, "Hotch told-"

"I know you lied to me," Reid interrupted her.

JJ frowned, and finally looked over at his blank face. He held no expression to give her clues. He was as quiet and calm as ever, and for once she found it annoying.

"What?" she asked after a minute, scoffing lightly.

The elevator stopped, after what felt like an eternity and Reid stepped back to let her walk out first, but as she did, he was right behind her. She looked at the keycard in her hand and searched for room 354.

She found the room right away and opened the door, "What are you talking about?"

Reid stopped in front her door and looked in, "Can I come in?"

For a second, JJ considered if it was a good idea or not, but ultimately nodded her head, moving aside to let him in.

He looked around for a moment to make sure no one would see and walked in, closing the door behind him.

"I remember last night…all of it," He said evenly, looking straight at her.

JJ laughed nervously and looked away, crossing her arms in front her chest, "Reid…nothing happened, we don't need to talk about this."

"Actually, something did happen. I didn't remember at first, but its all come back to me. And I realize you just want to pretend like it didn't happen, but we won't be able to put it behind us that way," He explained.

Of course, JJ thought to herself, even when it came to one night stands, Spencer Reid was a genius.

"We clearly both consumed an undefined amount of alcohol that resulted in a… _freudian slip_. I just want to talk about it."

She couldn't help it, JJ placed her face in the palms of her hands and laughed nervously, "I can't believe we're talking about this."

"I know it might be awkward-"

"-Spence. Can we just-"

"No," He interrupted her, with a hint of assertion in his tone.

He looked at her intently, then continued, "I thought about why you lied to me. And the only reason I could think of was that you thought that I might tell someone. But JJ, you're my friend and I'm surprised you think I would jeopardize our work or our friendship."

A sense of guilt filled her then, and she couldn't shake it. In a way, he was right, she had thought about how their one night stand would effect their work environment. But mostly, she'd wanted to pretend it didn't happen, not for her own selfish reasons, but because she didn't want to hurt Will.

JJ looked into his eyes, momentarily thinking about how different they'd been the night before. The ones in front of her looked sad, but the way he'd looked at her the night before, as his mouth had slightly parted and his lips had molded into hers, made her swallow.

She looked away from him and took a deep breath, feeling in sync with the heavy rain she could still hear hitting the ground outside. There were moments of thunder so loud, she wondered if it would penetrate the walls.

JJ opened her mouth to say something, but as she did, the lights went out completely.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

"Again?" Whined Prentiss as she and Morgan climbed the last stairs to the floor of their rooms.

"What's with the electricity in this town?"

Saturdays were their cardio day and he'd gently reminded her that she'd flaked out twice. Taking the stairs had been her way of making amends for skipping out.

"All the buildings on the street must run on the same circuit," he muttered as he turned on the light on his phone.

He held it up and lit up the hallway just in time to see Reid and JJ walk out of a room.

"Do you guys know what happened?" Reid asked, with JJ trailing behind him.

Morgan shook his head, "No. We're guessing this building runs on the same circuit as the police station…You ready to go?"

The young doctor stalled for only a moment, "Yes. I just-yes I'm ready."

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

It was once they they were twenty minutes away from landing in LA, that Morgan looked over at Reid sniffling and looking over the pictures again, that he spoke up, "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Reid looked up at him and blinked as he frowned, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You've been off since West Bune," he said turning over to look straight at him, "And that's not even covering the fact that you showed up wearing last nights clothes."

Reid looked back down at the file and didn't say anything.

Morgan clenched his jaw, "If you need help-"

"I haven't relapsed," he blurted out, annoyed.

Silence fell on them again, as they both collected their thoughts. In what had followed after what happened to Reid out in that cabin with Tobias, no one had ever said it out loud.

Morgan didn't take his eyes away from Reid though, and inhaled, "I want to believe it man."

Reid looked down at his papers and placed a fist under his chin to support it, "You aren't going to leave this alone, are you?"

"Nope. You know what happened last time I did."

He closed the file he'd been holding and chewed on the bottom of his lip for a moment, awkwardly- without looking up at him, "I had a one-night stand."

Morgan froze for a moment, then sat up straight and blinked, "What?"

"Last night- I…met someone at the bar when I thought you guys had left and well…one thing led to another."

Out of everything he could have said, Morgan had not been prepared for Reid to say that.

Then, in the middle of their conversation the captain announced their descent into LAX and both prepared to land.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _Lila's Home_

As Morgan rang the bell outside Lila's home, Reid sneezed violently.

"You ok kid?" He asked looking over at him.

Reid sniffled and took a tissue out of his pocket as he nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine-Hey, do you think you can do the talking with Lila? I could search her house while you interview her."

Morgan frowned, "What happened between the both of you anyway? You didn't seem to excited to see her when Hotch brought it up either."

"We sort of…left things off in an awkward place," he struggled, with a stuffy nose.

"Really? How so?" Morgan asked, increasingly curious.

However, as footsteps made their way closer to the door, Reid mumbled he'd tell him later, and they were both greeted by a nervous looking Lila. And when she spotted Reid, she crossed her arms, with a seething expression forming on her face.

"What are _you_ doing here?"


	5. Tongue Tied

**Thank you all for reading! Here is the next installment. As always, I love your thoughts :)**

* * *

 **Limerence**

 _"Show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy."-_

 ** _F. Scott Fitzgerald_**

Chapter 4: Tongue Tied

Acting had never been Lila Archer's ambition. She'd never longed to be on TV, star in movies, or be on the cover of magazines. Her desire- her true passion, from the age of three, had been to dance ballet professionally.

She had often dreamed about playing Giselle at the Met- ever since her Aunt had taken her and she'd gotten to meet the ballerina backstage.

But acting, the process of becoming an actor, starring in a TV show and signing movie deals had all been- what seemed at the time- a happy accident.

And briefly, before the incident with her friend Maggie, she'd thought of leaving it all behind. Questioned whether to just go back to New York and take her chances on the stage again.

And then he entered her life.

Spencer Reid.

He was a lanky nerd, who'd been nervous to talk to her, who'd been hesitant to kiss her. A gentleman.

To be honest, he'd swept her off her feet with his first smile. There was something incredible genuine about him, something she rarely saw in LA.

He'd had this light- a warmness to him, that had made her feel whole.

Of course, she hadn't shared that little tidbit with him. Because the way he'd made her feel, it was too deep to tell a guy who'd just shown up in her life.

After they'd caught Maggie and he'd promised to keep in touch, she told herself not to make too much of it, but she couldn't help it- Lila truly thought he might be the one. As premature as it sounded, she thoroughly believed that Spencer was exactly who she'd been waiting for.

But as always, something had happened to snap her back into her bubble of reality.

At first things seemed to go fine, they started hanging out whenever either of them could find the time- which wasn't often.

When she went to Virginia, she'd pretend she was in town to visit a family member, instead of telling him her trips were solely to see him. He would tell her about some of the cases he'd worked on, about all the books he'd read, his obsession with Star Wars, and entertain her for hours with his illusionist abilities.

Sadly, in the middle of every visit he'd get that retched phone call, and it would pull him away, only leaving her with a promising kiss.

That dance went on for months after their initial meeting, each time bringing them slightly closer, yet to be pulled apart by his demanding job. Lila should have been annoyed, she knew that, but what he did was so courageous, that it didn't bother her, at least not as much as it should have.

Mostly, she was amazed at how he was able to compartmentalize what he did, it amazed her how he left his job out of his personal life- how different he was outside of his FBI world.

Of course, then the incident happened.

The day he told her he wasn't interested in her at all.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _Previously…_

 _However, as footsteps made their way closer to the door, Reid mumbled he'd tell him later, and they were both greeted by a nervous looking Lila. And when she spotted Reid, she crossed her arms, with a seething expression forming on her face._

 _"What are you doing here?"_

"What are you doing here?"

Reid swallowed, smiling nervously, and waved one hand while the other was in his pocket, "Hi Lila."

Morgan took a moment to look between them, before speaking up, "We were hoping you'd talk to us about the note you received."

Lila didn't say anything, instead just stared at Reid for an uncomfortable amount of time, before ultimately turning around and walking back into her house.

Morgan turned over to look at Reid again, and ask what the _hell_ had happened between them, but Reid's eyes were glued to the floor.

Instead, both FBI agents walked into Lila's home and followed her soft footsteps to the dimly lit living room.

She turned around and crossed her arms in her red silk kimono, "Let's get this over with."

Reid didn't say anything, so instead Morgan sighed and spoke up, "The note you received, do you have any idea of who it could have been?"

Lila shook her head and placed a strand of hair behind her ear, "No. Why do you think I went to the cops right away? I know how crazy people can be."

"Have you had any contact from Maggie?"

She scoffed, "Of course not."

Out of nowhere Reid sneezed, not once or twice, but three times.

Morgan looked over at him, as Reid spoke up, "Uh- sorry."

"Does the note mean anything to you? _Bella, You fool. You thieve. You adulterer. You will pay. from R?"_

Lila clenched her chest and shook her head.

Reid sniffed, "It sounds like whoever it is, could be accusing you of meddling in a relationship. Have you been- are you seeing anyone?"

Of course Morgan understood Reid's pressing, but from Lila's sardonic look, he could tell she was going to be difficult.

"Yes," she said curtly.

"Does he work in the industry?" Morgan cut off Reid as he was about to speak.

Lila frowned, "Yes…Do you think he has something to do with this?"

Reid sniffled, "Possibly- indirectly, I mean. It could be an ex-girlfriend that's jealous of the relationship you have with him and seeking vengeance. What's his name?"

"It's my co-star in Twilight, James Ford…look," Lila paused and sighed, "We aren't really dating. We're just pretending to, its free publicity for the movie."

Morgan popped out his phone and began dialing Hotch to give him the news, and started walking out to the front of the house. But as he began walking out, he quickly noticed that Reid was trailing him.

"What are you doing?"

Reid laughed nervously, "I think I'd rather wait out there with you."

"Oh no kid, you need to get back in there and hash out whatever you did to her, else she won't cooperate with us. You know that. What'd you do anyway?"

He scratched the back of his neck, "Its…a long story. You know what- I'll just-go-back."

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

Forks, Washington

"So who's this Lila chick?" Prentiss asked, sitting up on the desk, with Garcia on the intercom and JJ looking at the tick boards that read had left up.

JJ thought about explaining, but Garcia beat her to it, "Reid's girlfriend."

"Wait, what? He has a girlfriend?" Prentiss asked.

"Is it that hard to believe? He's not bad looking," JJ found herself turning around and saying.

When she realized just what she'd said, she turned back to the board and closed her eyes, mentally slapping herself.

"Of course he's not. He's adorable. I'm just surprised that he'd keep something like that from us," Prentiss explained.

"No you goofballs- They had a thing when we worked on her case in LA. I don't think they actually dated," Garcia said over the speaker.

JJ couldn't take it anymore. While the mention of Lila didn't make her jealous, it just felt strange to talk about Reid and the women he'd dated or not dated.

She shook her head and turned around, "You guys, can we focus on the case instead of Reid's love life? Garcia have you found anything connecting the victims yet?"

"That's what I called about! Ok, get ready for this creepy coincidence- all the victims were registered to the James Ford fan club. And just in case you don't know- he's the actor playing Edward in the Twilight movie," she explained in a speed which could have only been a result of too much caffeine.

Rossi walked in just as Garcia had finished talking, with a file in his hand, "We have a lead."

"So do we, what's yours?" Prentiss asked standing up and taking the file from his hand.

"The textile the Unsub used on the dresses is the same. Not only is it the same textile, but it seems to be custom made using a very distinctive yellow thread that only one textile company uses in india."

The three women were all silent, until JJ spoke up, "How did you find that out?"

"One of the forensic analyst sent it out to their designer friend," he said with a shrug, "What about you guys?"

"Ok- I did a little digging on all of the victims, since we got their identities, and as it happens, all of them were registered in the James Ford fan club," Garcia's let out in one breath.

Rossi frowned, "Who runs this fan club?"

"Just sent the information to your phone, sir."

Within a couple of seconds he headed back out, leaving the three girls on their own again.

"I know this is irrelevant, but since we were talking about him- did anyone else notice that Reid was wearing the same clothes the morning after we all went out for my birthday?" Garcia asked.

"Yes- I even asked him, but he wouldn't tell me."

There were only two options that JJ realized she had. Either she could tell them that Reid had spent the night, because he'd left his messenger bag at the office- which was true, and it would end the conversation, or, she could run the risk of keeping her mouth shut and it coming out later, which would inevitably mean that they would suspect something.

"You're making a big deal out of nothing. Reid slept over at my place because he forgot his keys at the office, _that's_ why he was wearing the same clothes," she explained, with a tone of disinterest.

Prentiss' face fell, "Really? I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. Here I thought our little boy was finally getting some."

"Well who knows? I got off the phone with Morgan and he mentioned that Reid had stayed at Lila's, to _watch_ her."

"Why all the sudden interest in Reid's love life? God, I hate to think what you guys say about me," JJ laughed.

Both Prentiss and Garcia were silent. She could hear the faint clicking of a pen over the speaker, which meant Garcia was nervous about something.

After a prolonged period of silence, she spoke up, "Well- what we say about you is-"

"-We want to know when you'll admit that you're seeing detective LaMontagne," Prentiss finished for Garcia.

JJ spluttered the water she was drinking and coughed a couple of times, "What?"

"Oh come on. Do you really question our intelligence that much? Everyone noticed the chemistry between the both of you back in New Orleans."

She swallowed, and placed a strand of her hair behind her ear, "Can we get back to the case please?"

"You're really not going to tell us?" Emily whined.

Luckily, Hotch walked in just as Prentiss had finished, with an expression that said something had happened.

"There's been an accident in LA."

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

Earlier

Los Angeles, CA

When Spencer Reid graduated high school at the young age of twelve and gone to Caltech, he'd gotten his first doctorate in Math and also Chemistry and Philosophy. Yet, with all the education he'd gotten in his twenty six years, any time it came to having a conversation with a girl, he felt as if he were starting from scratch.

Seeing Lila sitting down on her couch looking through a magazine, his speech was completely gone.

He stood behind her awkwardly, with his hands deep in his pockets, wondering what to say. He knew there was a lot he could say, should say, at least about the last time he'd seen her. Reid knew he'd been uncharacteristically mean. But he couldn't begin to tell her why, without telling her the entire story. And that, he'd really never spoken to anyone about.

"Are you going to say something?" she asked out of nowhere.

Reid swallowed, and licked his lips, "I just wanted to say- I'm sorry."

Lila put down her magazine, and stood up to look at him, "What got into you?"

The thought of telling her, scared him, and though he knew he owed it her, Reid couldn't bare the thought of talking about it.

"It had nothing to do with you," he let out slowly.

"How can you say that? You told me you didn't want to see me again. How can it have had nothing to do with me?"

He fidgeted, and wanted to avoid looking at her, but part of him couldn't. When he swallowed, he became aware of an uncomfortable knot that hadn't been there before.

"I know it doesn't make sense, but I really can't elaborate."

Lila frowned then, as if the anger had evaporated from her face, and she raised her hand to touch his face, "Are you ok? You're sweating."

He felt his face, she was right. Reid had been so consumed with guilt, that he hadn't realized somewhere along the lines he'd gotten a fever and was sweating.

"That's-stra-," He was in the middle of saying, when he sneezed.

"Excuse-me."

"Are you sick?" Lila asked again, her demeanor completely changed now.

He blinked his eyes repeatedly, and shook his head, "No- I'm fine."

His shivering said otherwise, and Lila placed the back of her hand against his forehead, "Spencer, you're burning up."

Behind them, the footsteps of Morgan became louder and Reid turned around, lowering Lila's hand in the process.

Morgan's frown told him that he'd caught their proximity though, and as he got to the living room, his steps slowed down, "Everything ok?"

"Ye-"

"-No," Lila caught him off, "I think he's sick."

Reid laughed, nervously and smiled, "I'm fine."

The last thing he needed was to get sick in the middle of a case regarding Lila. It shouldn't have made it more important just because it was her, but in the back of his mind he felt he owed her something. That he needed to redeem himself, after what he'd done to her. Not because he wished to be romantically linked to her, but because he needed to make amends for how he'd acted.

Morgan's face became hard and he tilted his head slightly, like he always did when he was being serious, "Reid- If you're not a hundred percent, I need to know. You know that."

He cleared his throat, "I'm fine. Did you speak to Hotch?"

"Yeah. Rossi's on the next flight out, and he's staying behind with JJ and Prentiss…"

Reid realized Lila was watching them intently, "Do you think I could have a glass of water?"

Lila rolled her eyes, obviously not fooled by his sudden thirst which was just a ploy to get her out of the room, but walked away anyway to give them privacy.

When they were sure she was gone, Morgan spoke up, "They found two more bodies, that makes it a total of seventeen bodies. At this rate we'll have a whole cemetery to fill by the premiere of this movie. I also told Hotch about the lead on James Ford. He wants us to follow up- James lives pretty close to here."

Reid nodded, getting out his phone, "I'll call Garcia on our way there- Maybe she can compile a list of women he's been connected to before we get there."

Morgan shook his head, "Hotch wants you to stay with Lila. If she is the unsub's target, we can't afford to leave her alone."

Reid let his mouth hang slightly open, apologizing was one thing- but he couldn't stay with her, weren't they all aware of what had happened last time?

"She isn't alone. There are police officers at every entrance of her house," he reasoned.

"Come on pretty boy- I saw that earlier. Don't tell me nothing happened between the both of you. One minute she wants to kill your guts, and the next she's worried about you being sick," Morgan said.

Reid licked his lips and cleared his throat, and as he was about to answer Lila walked back into the living room with a tall glass of water.

"Do you need me to go grab some more?" She asked, with a mock to her tone and tilted her head slightly.

"I have to follow up on a lead, but Reid will be staying with you. We're going to make sure nothing happens to you."

When Morgan was gone, Lila took a step towards Reid, and he instinctively took a step back. He wasn't ready for their almost relationship to slip back, as if nothing had happened.

But when Lila looked up at him, it wasn't with lust or desire- her look was inquisitive- even a little hurt, "Tell me, why did you really push me away?"

He swallowed, wondering just what he should tell her, because it couldn't be the truth. Only, as he was about to speak up, out of the corner of his eye he saw the reflection of something moving behind him. there was a glint of something silver, and then someone rushing towards them.

Reid instinctively pushed Lila away, "Run!"

Her eyes seemed to capture the hidden figure, and she shrieked, but began to run.

And as Reid went for his gun, he was too late- he felt the sharp knife cut deep into his lower back.

* * *

 _ **Coming Up…**_

"Did you get a good look?"

Lila couldn't stop trembling, all she could think about was that she'd run away, that she'd left him there. It was all her fault.

After a minute, she closed her eyes and felt a tear run down her face, "No."

"Could you tell if he was tall? Short?"

But also she could do was shake her head, Lila couldn't articulate anything else.

She could hear the other FBI agent sigh and move away, to talk to his partner about something- leaving her alone in the hard plastic chair as they waited for news from the doctor of how Spencer was doing.

She opened her eyes and wiped the tears off her cheek, but when she looked at her bloodstained sleeves, she began to sob again. Because what permeated through her mind, was the fact that if Spencer died, it would be her fault.


	6. A Whiter Shade of Pale

A rather short-spontaneous update! If you know this song-great! If not, totally look it up. :) Love your thoughts!

* * *

 **Limerence**

 _"Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity"-_ ** _Sigmund Freud_**

Chapter 5: A Whiter Shade Of Pale

The second stab wound hurt the most, and the knife's slick noise reverberated throughout Reid's body. The cut into his stomach was deep, and he could feel the twist of the blade knot his intestines tightly.

His knees felt weak, he wanted to give in and fall down to the floor- but the thought of Lila in the house sent his body the last of his strength.

Reid took a deep breath and turned around, managing to pull his gun and shoot the unsub in the arm, before his body gave in to the wounds, and he fell down.

And as his eyes began to droop, before he fell unconscious, he saw it, wispy blonde hair.

The unsub was a woman.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::::}

Time passed for Reid like frames in a film.

He opened his eyes and he saw Lila next to him, trembling, talking to the police officer that had been at her door.

When he blinked, she was gone, but Reid was aware of the pressure he felt in his stomach. He could taste the metallic tinge of blood in his mouth, and felt the convulsions throughout his body. An oxygen mask was placed over his mouth, and they were rolling him out of Lila's home on a stretcher.

He wanted to stay conscious, he needed to tell them that the unsub was a girl, but his hand felt heavy, like a ton of bricks was weighing it down.

He blinked again and he was in the ambulance. They were hanging a banana bag with IV fluids over him, and he could feel that the paramedic had already rolled up his sleeve.

Next to him the heart monitor beeped at increasing intervals, while the other paramedic said unintelligible things that he couldn't discern.

The pinch of the needle in his forearm surprised him, and it was then that he saw the second paramedic holding another needle. He felt his heart begin to beat faster, realizing what it was that they planned on giving him.

Parting his lips took up almost all his energy, but it was just enough for him to try and speak, "No-no-nar."

But before he could get out what he desperately needed to say, everything turned black.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _Later_

Morgan kept pacing back and forth in the waiting room, going over everything that had happened at Lila's house. He couldn't wrap his head around how the unsub had managed to get in, when they'd had a police officer posted at every entrance.

His eyes scanned the plastic seat where She was sitting and staring into the abyss. She looked catatonic, and was covered with Reid's blood all over her shirt.

He stood against the wall of the waiting room and turned his head upwards, inhaling deeply and closed his eyes. Morgan wasn't accustomed to praying, he didn't find himself to be a religious man in the least, but in that moment, it didn't matter. Reid needed all the help he could get.

"Morgan?" Hotch's voice called him.

Instantly, he opened his eyes and found Hotch and JJ standing before him. He could see the concern on both their faces, but JJ was pale, as if she'd seen a ghost.

"Have you gotten any news?" Hotch asked, placing a hand on his shoulder for a moment.

Morgan swallowed and shook his head, feeling his eyes get watery, "No, he's still in surgery…Hotch- it's all my fault-"

"Don't say that. Of course it's not," JJ argued, enveloping him in a hug.

But he couldn't do it, he backed away and shook his head, needing to explain himself, "It is. I knew the kid wasn't feeling well. He was sick, but I pretended like it wasn't important. Maybe if I'd pushed-"

"Morgan- listen to me. I asked Reid to stay behind with Lila. It was my call, not yours. I need your head in this case now more than ever," Hotch's voice was stern, and assertive.

He clenched jaw, and nodded, "I didn't get a chance to make it over to James Ford's home before I got the call."

"I need you to go back. There's nothing you can do for Reid here, all you can do is help find who did this to him."

The thought of leaving the hospital before knowing if Reid would be ok, scared Morgan. But at the bottom of everything Hotch was right. The need to solve the case and catch the unsub was important.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

A few hours had passed since Spencer had been taken into surgery, when a doctor in scrubs came up to where Lila was sitting next to the other agents.

"Family of Spencer Reid?"

Immediately, Agent Hotchner approached the surgeon, taking out his badge from his blazer pocket, "I'm SSA Hotchner, Spencer's supervisor, he's one of our agents. How's he doing?"

The doctor's expression was slightly morose, and when he sighed, Lila's eyes moistened, ready to hear bad news.

"Spencer was brought in with multiple stab wounds to his back and suffered a lot of blood loss. His intestines, stomach and lung were all damaged and were in critical condition. We were able to repair his lung and re-inflate it, as well as stitch his stomach and we stopped the bleeding from a major vein. However, the cut into his intestines caused leakage into his bloodstream and we fear that it may have caused sepsis, as his fever hasn't come down from 101."

Lila watched as the other blond agent placed a couple fingers to her mouth, and attempted to remain composed, "But he'll be ok, right?"

The doctor sighed, and shook his head, "I'm sorry but the way it looks right now…its very unlikely. If he survives the first twenty-four hours, I'd be surprised."

"But he could, right?" Lila asked, her voice cracking.

He looked at her and nodded slowly, "He could, but with all his complications- he'd be very lucky to recover completely. Even if he is able to beat the infection, he's looking at months of recovery."

"Can we see him?" The girl agent asked, her voice trembling.

"He's in post-op right now. We're going to be transferring him to ICU. Once he's there you'll be able to see him."

"Thank you doctor," Agent Hotchner said, and shook his hand before the doctor walked away.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 ** _meanwhile_**

Procol Horum was playing _A Whiter Shade of Pale_ on stage.

It wasn't one of his favorite songs, or type of music, but Reid appreciated the classic song nonetheless. There was something about sixties music that he found timeless. They just didn't make music the same way anymore.

"I've always liked this song," a voice next to him said.

He turned his head to see Tobias Hankel sitting opposite to him, donning the same black trench coat he'd had on the last time he saw him.

Reid frowned, "Tobias? What are you doing here?"

Tobias turned his head back to face the stage and nodded towards it, "Enjoying the music. Isn't that why you're here?"

He thought about it, hugging himself from the soft whispering wind that had just hit him, and looked back up to the band playing on stage. They'd become blurry, but he could still hear the music playing clearly.

But something didn't feel right. Why was he there? The last thing he remembered was being stabbed-

Reid frowned and licked his lips, "I-I don't know…do you like Procol Horum?"

Tobias shrugged, and there was an innocence to it that Reid remembered, "Yes, but I've always found their music confusing."

"Me too," he thought.

He took in the profile of the man he'd killed, and Tobias spoke, "The fact that their songs are puzzles have always intrigued me."

Reid scrutinized him, the way he was speaking or the sense he was making didn't sound like him anymore, "You're…not you."

Tobias turned to him, "What do you mean?"

"You're a hallucination I think? But why am I seeing you?" he asked.

Tobias raised his eyebrows, "That _is_ the question, isn't it? Maybe it's guilt?"

Reid shook his head, "You weren't the first unsub I've killed."

"But I was the first you felt guilty about. The first serial killer was conscious of what he was doing, he was seeking acknowledgement. You knew I wasn't. I was fractured, did I deserve to die?"

"You killed multiple people...you were going to kill me."

"Was it me? Or was it my father and Raphael?"

Reid was silent, and pensive, "This doesn't make sense."

"All I wanted to do was help you Spencer. Didn't I help you?"

A wave of shame washed over him. It was so potent he couldn't look at Tobias in the eyes, and he was thankful that no one else was there to hear him say it.

His voice was small, "Yes."

He looked at the drink on the table next to him, where whisky had been, it was now filled with blood. He frowned and felt his shirt suddenly wet, and when his eyes traveled down, he saw the cuts.

"I'm dying. The unsub- the one at Lila's house…she stabbed me."

Tobias shrugged and ate from the peanut bowl on the table, "You don't have to."

Reid mulled over his thought, as fragments of what had happened ran through his mind. He remembered the first stab to his back, how it had hurt his breathing. The second one he'd felt had hit his stomach, and the third one cut into his intestines- he remembered the twist of the sharp blade.

"The probability of me making it- it's not likely."

"No percentage?"

"It's less than fifteen percent."

 _"Spence?"_

It wasn't Tobias who'd spoken, but the voice was familiar, it was soothing. He looked around in the bar, but realized they were the only ones there.

"Did you hear that?"

"I'm you, remember? Of course I heard it."

 _"Spence…it's me."_

Reid licked his lips and stood up, searching every corner of the venue with his eyes to find the voice.

But he'd forgotten about the cuts, he'd forgotten about the blood loss, and the rush of standing up straight had been too much. He felt himself slowly slip away.

{::::::::::::::::::::::::::}

When JJ walked into Reid's room, she hadn't been prepared to see the state he was in.

Reid's color was gone. There was a breathing tube in his mouth and countless needles in both his arms, that were all part of other instruments surrounding him- no doubt working to keep him alive. A machine next to him beeped away with an irritating sound, and JJ felt her skin crawl when she spotted spots of blood on his bedsheets that the nurses had missed cleaning up.

"Spence?"

She wasn't sure why she'd called out to him, knowing that he couldn't really hear her, but it gave her a tiny bit of comfort.

JJ swallowed and sat on the empty plastic chair next to his bed, slipping her hand into his. His skin was tender and soft, it was comforting.

It was hard for her to wrap her head around the fact that just the night before, they had been talking, everything had been fine.

His smile in the elevator had sent a feeling she'd hated up her stomach, a feeling that she now missed.

"Spence…it's me," her voice sounded foreign to her, it cracked and battled against a sob that was making its way up her throat.

What the surgeon had said earlier still haunted her.

 _If he survives the first twenty-four hours I'd be surprised._

The idea of not having Reid around was too horrible to imagine. What he meant to their team, couldn't be quantified. He brought a light and goodness that others often forgot about. He was the empathizer. He was the heart.

Most importantly, JJ hadn't realized it before, but he meant more to her than she'd had known. When she'd gotten the news of what had happened to him from Hotch, her mind had immediately gone to the night that they'd spent together. She'd seen a different part of him that ignited something magical throughout her, a feeling she now knew she'd never experienced with Will. The thought of loosing that, when she'd just found it- JJ couldn't bear it.

Perhaps what she was feeling was premature, and only intensified by the state he was in. However, she knew that in a sense it was still true, and so she kissed his hand and said it.

"Please don't give up...I love you."

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

Lila wanted to see Spencer first, but before she got a chance to speak up, the blond agent had hurried after his room.

In retrospect, she realized that even if she'd wanted to, she wasn't sure she could stand just yet. Her entire body was trembling and her knees felt weak.

Agent Hotchner sat down next to her and turned towards her, with a small sigh, "Lila, would it be ok if I ask you some questions?"

She didn't speak, but she felt herself nod.

"Were you there when the suspect stabbed Agent Reid?"

She nodded again.

"Did you get a good look at the perpetrator?"

Lila couldn't stop trembling, all she could think about was that she'd run away, that she'd left him there. It was all her fault.

After a minute, she closed her eyes and felt a tear run down her face, "No."

"Could you tell if he was tall? Short?"

But also she could do was shake her head, Lila couldn't articulate anything else.

She could hear the FBI agent sigh and move away, to talk to the nurse about something- leaving her alone in the hard plastic chair as they waited for the other agent to come back so that they could each go see how Spencer was doing.

She opened her eyes and wiped the tears off her cheek, but when she looked at her bloodstained sleeves, she began to sob again. Because what permeated through her mind, was the fact that if Spencer died, it would be her fault.

Suddenly a siren went off in the direction of Spencer's room, and the blond agent ran out as doctors rushed in.

And one yelled, " _We have a code blue_!"


	7. Knife

Another update! I have to say thank you to all who have been reading! I was amazed to see 245 people read the last chapter! I am in total awe. Below is the next installment, and I have to say I can't wait to get to the next part! As always, I love your thoughts :)

* * *

 **Limerence**

 _Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I've a call-_ ** _Sylvia Plath_**

Chapter 6: Knife

Nothing felt right about being at a victim's home, while Reid fought for his life at the hospital. Morgan dreaded to think of not being next to Hotch or JJ if something were to happen to him.

It wasn't just that he couldn't be there for the kid, but the fact that his head wasn't in the case. He couldn't focus, not when all he could think about was how much of Reid's blood had been on Lila. He could only think about the fact that he'd been stabbed three times-three, and about his guilt of leaving him there- the fact that he'd insisted.

The unfairness of it all angered Morgan.

Reid was the one out of all of them who least deserved to get harmed, yet somehow he seemed prone to getting hurt the most.

After what he'd suffered with Tobias, and what he dealt with in his own personal life, it was as if Reid couldn't catch a break.

As he turned the corner and parked on Gilcrest Drive, he looked at his rearview mirror. A street away, a car had turned its headlights off at the same time he had.

His heart rate had gone up, and he placed a hand over his gun holder as he opened the car door.

But when the driver got out of the car and was embraced by a little girl that ran out from the house in front of him, Morgan relaxed his hand.

Instead, he took a deep breath and made his way towards James Ford's front door.

Only, it was as he was climbing the steps to ring the doorbell, that he heard shuffling from the bush on the side of the house- then saw a head.

"Don't move!" Morgan exclaimed, pointing his gun at bush.

Slowly, the body of a girl began to rise, and he was faced with a thin, sickly looking brunette.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _LAPD Interrogation Room_

After Reid had been attacked by the unsub at Lila's home, the rest of the team had wasted no time in joining them in LA, only a few hours later.

Prentiss and Rossi stood outside the the interrogation room, looking in at the unsub Morgan had caught at the actor, James Ford's home.

Rossi shook his head, "Something doesn't feel right about this."

"What are you thinking?" Prentiss asked crossing her arms and examining the brunette through the glass.

He sighed, "It was too easy. Why would she give herself away now, when she was so careful with the other deaths?- When she has a plan? It just doesn't add up."

Prentiss shrugged, "She didn't expect us to be at the vic's home. She didn't mean to give herself up."

He shook his head and turned the speaker button on so they could hear Morgan interrogate her.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

The room smelled of stale coffee and mildew. The walls of the room were a dark green moss color, but in the corners of the room, he could see that it was to cover the water damage of the walls.

He thought about how odd it was that the LAPD would have rundown rooms, but the shallow breathing of the person in front of him brought him back from his thoughts.

Morgan shifted his attention back to the girl in front of him.

Her name was Jessica Lawrence, a twenty-year-old student from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise, with stringy dark brown hair and skin that was almost translucent. The closest thing to a vampire Morgan had actually seen.

The file in front of him had detailed accounts to her life that fit the profile. She'd lived in England for a few years while growing up, and had been institutionalized at the age of fifteen for an eating disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.

He pursed his lips, folded his hands, and calmly asked, "Why were you at James Ford's house?"

She was silent, her face was blank and the only sign of life that emitted from her, was a deep exhale. Jessica bent her head forward, and her long dark hair covered her face. Morgan couldn't help but be reminded of Samara from the _Ring_ movie.

He clenched his jaw and opened the file in front of him, placing pictures of all the victims in front of her, so she could see.

"Did you kill these girls?"

Still she said nothing, and looked into thin air.

"Fifteen girls- is that nothing to you…was it jealousy? Afraid they were going to steal James Ford from you?"

Her eyes, which had been focused on the table the entire time, slowly made their way to Morgan, "It needed to happen."

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

"This doesn't fit," Rossi said, studying Jessica, as Morgan walked out.

He frowned and closed the door behind him, crossing his arms, "She fits the profile Rossi. She's a member of the James Ford fan club, she was at his house, has a background in fashion design and she has a history of mental disorder."

"Think about it, we profiled our unsub to be meticulous- her actions have been sloppy."

"What part of her being institutionalized for OCD did you miss?" Morgan frowned, in disbelief that his superior didn't see the correlation.

"Am I the only one that sees this girl wouldn't know the first thing about exsanguination? Not only that, but how did she get from Forks to LA?" Prentiss asked.

Morgan watched Rossi frown and look back into the room at the girl, "Garcia checked- her family has a private jet that flew from Seattle to LA today. I don't think that's a coincidence."

"I still think something's missing," Rossi shook his head.

Prentiss audibly sighed and turned to both of them, "I know what's missing."

Morgan and Rossi both looked at her expectantly, "What is it?"

"Reid…he would have figured out the missing link already," she murmured then added, "Have you guys heard anything from Hotch?"

Rossi looked straight head for a moment an cleared his throat, "Yes…it doesn't look good."

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _Cedars-Sinai hospital_

Hotch paced the hospital waiting room, careful not to display the worry he felt over Reid's heart flatlining.

Both Lila and JJ were already in pieces and he needed to convey calm for the sake of them. Though, the truth was, he was terrified that he might not make it this time.

He'd been close to death not only by the Long distance serial killer, the fisher king, but at the hands of Tobias Hankel.

It was as he was in the middle of his thoughts that a different female doctor approached them. She was blonde and had her hair pulled back into a ponytail over her right shoulder, and when she spoke she revealed her British accent.

"Are you Agent Hotchner?"

"Yes," he answered tentatively, as both JJ and Lila listened attentively.

She smiled, "We thought you'd be happy to hear that Spencer's vitals have stabilized. We've managed to lower his fever, and he seems to be responding to the medication we administered for his infection, which means we're confident he will not go into septic shock. However, he is still in critical condition for his other injuries and he still has a long road to recovery."

"So he'll be ok?" Lila asked, as both Hotch and the doctor turned to look at her tear-brimmed eyes.

The doctor nodded hesitantly, "Yes…granted that he does not get any other complications, Spencer should be able to recover completely."

"Is he awake?" JJ asked with a swallow, and with what Hotch knew was her brave face.

"Not at the moment. We have him sedated, so that his body may begin to heal from the wounds, he probably won't be awake for a while."

Hotch could see the doctor study all of them, and then added, "But this is good news, Spencer will be ok."

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

 _Three Days Later_

When Reid woke up, the first thing he was conscious of was the feeling of a tube lodged down his throat, and the distinctive smell of disinfectant and ammonia. He started coughing, from the uncomfortable feeling in his trachea. It felt as if it had been scraped with sandpaper.

His hands went to the breathing tube and was about to try and take it out, when they were firmly pushed back on to his bed by two nurses.

"Spencer- this is Dr. Brontë. You're in Cedars-Sinai Hospital. I need you to cough out, so we can remove your breathing tube. Can you do that?" the voice was female and foreign- english, he noted.

Reid nodded his head eagerly and began to cough, as they slowly extracted the long endotracheal tube.

Almost immediately, they placed a breathing mask over his face and he caught a glimpse of Hotch and Rossi outside his room door.

"I-need-" Reid tried speaking, but found it hard to catch his breath, as if there was something in his lung squeezing it tightly.

"You're going to find it very difficult to speak right now. Give yourself time- when we brought you in, your lung had collapsed, you're still recovering from that. Do you understand?" she asked, and he noted the caress of her hand on his arm, but was soon distracted by something else.

Reid shut his eyes from the sudden pain he felt vibrating through his body. His back felt as if it had been thrashed with a machete, and his chest felt as if it had been lit on fire. The more he breathed, the more it felt like his lungs were being sanded down.

Next to him, the heart monitor began to beep faster.

He let out a groan, and the doctor moved her hand up to his shoulder, "We've weened you off of the anesthesia, so you're going to be in a bit of pain. But you'll feel the morphine quick-in, in just a moment. That should help with the discomfort."

Reid shook his head, and swallowed before his trembling hand lifted the breathing mask, "No-morphine-"

Dr Brontë frowned, and let out a struggling sigh, "The injuries you suffered were severe. And at the moment, your body can't handle it. We can discuss a different regimen once we've had time to properly asses you, now that you're awake."

As if on cue, he felt the familiar flood of warmness through his veins and felt the pain quickly dissipating from his body. Instead of mind-numbing agony, he felt weightless, a feeling- while good, he'd hoped never to feel again.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

Reid wasn't sure how much time had passed, but when he blinked his eyes open, Morgan was sitting next to him, flipping through a Martha Stewart _Living_ magazine. His forehead creased at the center, as his eyes diligently scanned the pages- clearly transfixed by some article. But when Reid moved slightly, his head snapped over to the young doctor and a flood of concern or guilt filled his features- exactly which ones, Reid wasn't sure.

"Hey," he managed to say and swallowed, realizing his throat felt like a summer day in Las Vegas- scorching hot and dry.

Morgan tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace, "Hey kid….how are you feeling?"

Reid assessed his pain, it was almost nonexistent. All he felt was pressure, where his injuries were.

He cleared his throat, "I'm ok…how long was I out?"

"Three days- we've all been taking turns keeping an eye on you," Morgan paused, and Reid noted the lump he swallowed before continuing, "You really scared us Reid."

Though logically he knew that it hadn't been his fault, there was a sense of guilt in him, that could not be shaken. And so his eyes searched his pastel-blue hospital room for a distraction, and noted the multiple baskets of dandelion and gardenia flowers.

There were also multiple bright-colored 'get well' balloons throughout the room, that he guessed came from one person back at Quantico.

"Garcia went a little crazy with the flowers and balloons," explained Morgan with a hint of a smile and a roll of his eyes, "But she said that the flowers would help you."

"-Yeah…they have healing properties. Dandelions are very effective for cleaning blood. and help with anemia. The native Americans actually also used to use it as a laxative and a tonic for wellbeing. And Gardenias are featured heavily in Chinese medicine for blood cleansing and disorders. Also, did you know that they help alleviate stress, insomnia and anxiety?"

" _And_ just like that, or resident boy genius is back," Morgan laughed, ruffling his hair.

Reid smiled, then remembered an image from the night before and knew he needed to tell him about the blond girl, "The unsub- Morgan, it's a gi-"

Morgan placed a hand up as if to calm him, and nodded, "We know. I caught her at James Ford's apartment."

"-is he ok?- is Lila ok?"

"He's fine…they're both fine. Lila actually didn't want to leave your side, but her manager forced her to leave to do some PR thing for Twilight," he laughed.

Reid wasn't sure why, but he was thankful she wasn't there. He wasn't ready to deal with what they'd been talking about, before he got attacked. Instead his mind was slowly flooding with what to ask.

Morgan could tell that his mind was still reeling with different information, questions, anything else he could think of to ask.

Reid watched as his partner took a big breath, offering him his signature smile, "Reid, everything is fine. You just need to rest and get better. We need that big brain of yours back on the field. Ok?"

He nodded his head, but felt uneasy, and uncomfortable about being in bed, while his team kept going. And when he swallowed, he realized how thirsty he felt.

Frowning, he asked, "Can I have some water?"

Morgan's grimace was real this time, and he shook his head, "No can do. The nurse actually told me I wasn't allowed to give you anything- something to do with your stomach."

Reid closed his eyes and sighed, acknowledging the dull uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, "Makes sense."

There was a light tap at the door and both men looked up to see JJ standing, with one arm hugging the other, and a fragile smile on her lips.

Morgan turned to him, "I'll be back later. I need to change my clothes and Garcia will want an update."

Reid nodded and murmured a goodbye as he walked out, and JJ slowly began to walk towards him.

They were both quiet until Morgan left, and then JJ looked back at him, "How are you feeling?"

He noted the bags under her eyes, the tired smile and he could tell from the puffiness on her eyes, that JJ had been crying.

"I feel ok," he said, hoping to make her feel better.

However, it didn't work, because JJ's eyes filled with tears and her hand slithered into his, "Oh Spence, you have no idea how scared we all were."

He offered her another reassuring smile, "I'm ok now."

She shook her head and let the tears fall down her cheeks, "I feel horrible."

"It wasn't your fault. You weren't even in LA," he frowned.

JJ nodded and sniffed her nose, wiping away some tears and looked down for a moment, before turning back up to look at him, "I know, but I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if we lost you and I didn't tell you the truth…You were right, I did lie to you. I told you nothing happened the night you slept over, when-something did. I didn't want to admit it because…of the guilt."

He licked his lips, and whispered, "It wasn't your fault."

"Well-that's debatable. But that's not even the point, I pushed you away and I lied because, I didn't want it to be real. Not because it wasn't good- because we both know that it wasn't _bad_ -"

She rambled on and scoffed when she said it. Reid noticed that she didn't look at him as she went on, but he stayed quiet, letting her speak.

"-it's because I felt guilty about cheating on Will."

He blinked, "Will? Will LaMontagne?"

JJ's eyes slowly traveled to his, and her voice was small, "Yes."

Reid swallowed, conflicted about how he felt, but JJ looked away again and went on.

"And I care about you so much Spence. You know that you're like family to me and I didn't want to hurt you. But I did, I pushed you away and I'm sorry," She smiled tearfully.

He returned her smile and caressed her hand with his, "You mean a lot to me too JJ, and I'm happy for you. Will seems like a great guy."

She laughed nervously, "He really is."

They both looked at each other and Reid felt at peace. Above all else, his friendship with JJ was the most important thing, in all of what had happened. And if it meant keeping their night together a secret so that she could be with Will- if that made her happy, then he would of course do it.

He would sacrifice his happiness.


	8. Paranoid Android

**A/N: It's been a while- I know! Writer's block is so annoying. SO here's my question- Lila or JJ?**

* * *

 **Limerence**

 _"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory"_ \- Dr Seuss

Chapter Seven: Paranoid Android

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Morgan asked Reid again, for what felt was the fifth time.

He stood at the doorway, a hand firmly gripping the dark mahogany trim, and Reid got the impression it was going to take a lot to convince Morgan to leave.

He smiled, "I'm fine man. To be honest, I could kind of use some time to myself."

His older partner looked conflicted, standing with tensed shoulders, and looking back in to his apartment, for any tell-tale sign that he was needed.

But after being confined to a bed for the better of two weeks, with constant visitors making sure he was ok, and being poked and prodded- not to mention a long flight with all the girls tending to him, like an injured baby- Reid was ready for his overdue solitude.

It wasn't that Morgan's presence bothered him, but he still felt that after four years of working together, that he needed to act tougher in front of him. Reid didn't want to portray that same kid who couldn't pass his shooting qualification exam. Even if the pain was reaching excruciating levels again, now that the pain medication was wearing off.

Morgan pursed his lips and bent his head an inch down, "You know I'm just a phone call away, right?"

Reid smiled and rolled his eyes, in what he hoped was a lighthearted way, "Yes. Go home and rest- before JJ calls you back in with a case."

At that, Morgan's face fell for a moment, his eyes went wide, and then he half smirked, "I don't need more convincing than that. But I mean it Reid. If you need anything don't hesitate."

He nodded, knowing very well what Morgan was trying to convey. While it may have seemed like the rest of the team was giving him space, Reid knew that it was only because they were letting Morgan take the lead. He understood that his moves would be monitored, that his colleagues would profile him if anything seemed mildly out of character, and that he'd have to check in just to prove that he was fine.

"I promise to call you, even if its help figuring out a sudoku problem," he joked.

As Morgan took out his car keys from his jacket pocket, and started walking away, he scoffed, "Kid- if you need _my_ help to figure out a numbers game, then there's something really wrong."

Reid smiled, and nodded in agreement, watching as Morgan begin to descend the stairs. Once he was out of sight, he dropped his forced smile, and inhaled deeply, only to feel the pain still lingering in his lung, from where the stab wound had been.

His fingers went to massage the spot in his chest, and when he closed the door to his apartment, his eyes traveled to the bag of medication Dr Brontë had given him right before he'd left the hospital.

He pulled out three orange prescription bottles from the bag, anti-inflammatory medication, antibiotics, and pain medication.

The day he'd woken up and had been ready to tell Dr Brontë he didn't need the morphine they were giving him, his addled brain had convinced him that if he told her, then she'd make a note on his medical file, which would in turn make its back to Quantico, and he couldn't have that.

Instead, he'd decided it was too late anyway, and he'd deal with the with fall out on his own, like last time.

His eyes traveled over to the grandfather clock across from his bookshelf to look at the time, it was just a quarter after nine- time for his medication.

He opened his fridge to get water, but was disappointed when he realized there was nothing inside. Reid had forgotten that he'd meant to go grocery shopping the night of Garcia's birthday.

With a sigh, he closed the door and opened the drawer that housed his old newspapers, dropping the prescription bottles in it, when he saw _it_.

A yellow, rubber tourniquet he'd forgotten about.

Months ago, he'd convinced himself that perhaps he'd need it for something, that he'd find some use for it. Though, logically, Reid knew there wouldn't be a reason for him to need it, at least, not for what it was intended for, but he'd still held on to it.

In the middle of his grainy thoughts, a lurch erupted from his stomach, signaling its desire to be filled with something.

He looked over at the thick yellow pages, where there was already a tab for his favorite Thai restaurant.

It would be easy to call and get it delivered, but there was something suffocating about his apartment, after being in the same room for two weeks.

Usually he would have rejected the idea, but Reid realized- in as much pain or discomfort as he was- he needed to get out of his apartment.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

"Are you serious about cooking?" JJ asked Will, as she pushed their cart down the spices isle, of the grocery store.

Will nodded, walking ahead when his eyes spotted something.

He picked up a prepackaged box of Jambalaya rice, "It's the least I can do. It's was my fault we missed our reservation."

JJ shook her head, with a smile, "It's fine Will, we can just go back home and order Pizza. This is supposed to be your weekend off."

He didn't seem to be listening though, as his eyebrows crouched together, "This can't be the entire selection for new orleans style food, could it?"

"I think so. It's too exotic for DC's palette."

Like a lightbulb, his head popped up and his eyes went wide, "Don't tell me they don't have crawfish. They _have_ to have it- I'm going to go check."

JJ chuckled, "I'll be in the next isle over."

But Will had already taken off in search of the seafood section.

With everything that had happened to Reid, and the events of the night of Garcia's birthday, it was nice to have Will visiting her. She'd forgotten just how comforting his being there was. He brought a calm presence that was much needed in her line of work.

JJ pushed her cart over to the next isle with a breath, and started looking at pastas, wondering if she might be able to convince Will to cook Italian instead. She hadn't had the heart to tell him, but she wasn't that fond of Creole dishes.

She was scanning the boxes of linguini and spaghetti, when her eyes traveled over to look at a back of a body, hunched over, and staring at the cans of soup. There was something about the grandpa looking cardigan and the long scraggly hazelnut hair that seemed fairly familiar, but when her eyes traveled down to see mismatched socks, she knew who it was.

"Spence?"

After she'd called his name, she realized it had been more of a shriek, than a curious inquiry.

His movements were sloth like, as he took his time, turning around to look at her with wide, tired eyes. In the fluorescent lights, his skin seemed paler and his cheekbones were more prominent than they'd seemed earlier that morning, on the jet ride back from LA. In a sum of words, Reid looked like he was on the verge of passing out.

When he didn't say anything, JJ spoke up, "What are you doing here?"

His long and angular fingers tipped the can of soup back and forth, as he offered her a small smile, "I was hungry."

She blinked, still shocked to see him there, "But…Morgan was supposed to take you home. You _just_ got discharged this morning."

"He did."

JJ frowned, "Why are you out? You should be resting at home."

He straightened up and swallowed- JJ could tell he was doing his best to appear fine.

"I needed to stretch my legs. I was afraid they'd become atrophied after two weeks confined to a hospital bed," Reid joked, with a small laugh, though JJ knew better.

From the way that he froze, she could see that it hurt him to laugh, "Spence-"

"Sweetheart, they had the crawfish," Will interrupted her with a triumphant smile, holding up the blue-packaged seafood.

When he noticed it was Reid she was speaking to, his eyes lightened up a bit, "Dr. Reid? Is that you? It's been ages."

After being in LA for a few days, JJ had confided in Will what had happened to Reid, not only that, but she'd also told him about the rough patch he'd had back when they'd first met. And the fact that he didn't skip a beat at Reid's condition, made the guilt in her chest triple.

Reid offered him a wide smile- attempting to appear fine, and put out his hand to shake, "Detective LaMontagne, how are you?"

"Just Will, please," he said, firmly shaking his hand back. Will looked over at JJ expectantly before speaking up, "Agent Jareau and I- uh-"

JJ rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Reid knows we're dating- actually, the entire team knew apparently."

Will raised his eyebrows at the bombshell and turned back to Reid, "Well now, in that case- JJ and I were headed back to her place to eat. Would you like to join us?"

From his expression, JJ could tell that Reid was taken off guard and looked at her for direction, "Thank you, but I was going back home-"

"Were you planning on making that?" Will pointed at the can of tomato soup in Reid's hand.

His mouth dropped open and he struggled for a moment, "-I…like soup."

Will shook his head, and spoke his New Orleans accent suddenly very prominent, "It would be a travesty to let you eat that. Now really, I _insist_ you join us."

Reid's eyes traveled to JJ, who was smiling, "Thank you Will, really, but I'm going to have to take a raincheck."

"Are you sure? We'd love the company-"

He nodded, and began to walk away, "It was great seeing you-both. And thanks again," he added.

It was odd, but they watched as Reid walked away, for a couple moments before Will turned back to look at JJ, "That poor boy, he looks like he's on the verge of death."

She couldn't argue, he did look sickly.

And when Reid subtly placed the can of soup down at the end of the isle, and shoved his hands inside his pockets, as he walked out of the grocery store, a knot grew in her throat.

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

Reid wasn't sure what part of seeing JJ with Will LaMontagne had curbed his appetite. It could have been the guilt of his night drunken with JJ, his jealousy of seeing them together, or a combination of both. Either way, what he was sure of was that, he knew later on, he'd regret leaving the can of tomato soup.

And as he climbed the stairs to his apartment, and felt his head light, Reid wondered if it was too late to order in Thai food.

But when he got to the top of the stairs, and saw a body of a girl sitting up against the wall next to his door, looking down at her cellphone, his hunger was forgotten again.

She raised her head, and Reid froze, wondering what Lila was doing there.

"Hi," she whispered, tentatively.

Reid blinked, rooted to his spot on the last step of the stairs, "Hi…"

Lila jumped up, and bit her lip, "I know how this looks. And I know you've already told me you don't want me here. But then you left the hospital, I didn't have a chance to thank you- for saving my life…again. And so…here I am."

After her ramble, she played with her fingers, nervously, clearly expecting to be rejected .

Reid frowned, and licked his lip, "So you flew out here to say…thank you?"

She nodded slowly, "I know its stupid-"

He wasn't sure how to feel about it, and if he was being honest with himself, he didn't really want her there, but he wasn't about to push her out again. Reid still felt bad about how he'd acted towards her while he'd been on Dilauded, and so he took a breath and shook his head.

He smiled, "No- no, its nice of you."

Lila let out a sigh of relief and moved away from the door to let him open it.

In the middle of unlocking his door, Reid looked up at her, "Do you like Thai?"

{:::::::::::::::::::::::::}

"Finally you're here! I thought you'd forgotten about me," Penelope complained, from the high table she was sitting at with Prentiss.

After LA, they'd all decided a night out was just what they needed. And of course Garcia had chosen the same bar as they one, they'd gone to on her birthday.

Morgan shook his head and put an arm around Penelope, once he sat down on the stool next to her, "It's been a crazy day, but I would never forget about my baby girl."

Prentiss smiled and sipped from her drink, before asking, "How's our boy genius?"

"Putting on a brave face, but it's as you'd expect. He's in pain and down."

Garcia frowned, "I feel so bad for Reid-"

Morgan frowned, eating a peanut from the bowl in front of him, "I know- just when my man had finally gotten some. I didn't even get a chance to ask him about it."

Both girls looked at each other and turned their attention to Morgan.

Prentiss asked, "What are you talking about?"

He gave them his signature smile, "Well I'm not one to gossip, but the kid got some the night of your birthday. That drink you gave him loosened him up."

However, their reactions of confusion wasn't what Morgan had expected. Again, they looked at each other in silence, before Garcia spoke up, "Honeybun, what are you saying exactly?"

Morgan was the one confused this time. Wasn't he being clear?

"Reid had a one night stand…"

Prentiss' eyebrows furrowed, and tilted her head, "But…JJ told us Reid spent the night at her place."

* * *

Next:

 _"Have you ever wondered what Reid would look like without a shirt?" Garcia said to her over the phone._

 _She blinked, "No...is this somehow part of the case we're working on?"_

 _"It's part of the case I'm working on. Maybe if someone gets enough ADIOS's into him..."_

 _JJ's mouth dropped open a bit, before she scrunched her eyes, "You know."_


	9. Huit: Five String Serenade

**I'm horrible at updating I know! Sorry! Hopefully this makes up for it...BTW Who's started watching the new season? Hopefully they give us more Reid!Centric episodes! Please give me your thoughts... :)**

* * *

 **Limerence**

 _"_ _To perceive is to suffer" - Aristotle_

Chapitre Huit: Five String Serenade

There was something haunting about watching Reid leave the can of tomato soup at the grocery store. JJ tried had to put it past her the rest of her evening with Will, but it still hung in the back of her mind, leaving a sour aftertaste in her mouth.

She knew in a literal sense it wasn't her fault he'd left it, still, she felt somehow responsible. So much so, that even the next day in a Portland Police department- while on a new case, it was still lingering in the back of her head, like an annoying song playing on a loop.

Her eyes stayed on the whiteboard, where Emily was busy writing traits they'd identified of an unsub who kidnapped grandmothers and held them captive for months at a time, until they eventually died.

While JJ was supposed to be getting information together for the press conference, all she could think about was Reid. How normally it was him who wrote on the board, how he could piece together the part of the case which they couldn't see.

Part of her rationalized that her mind was simply concerned for him, eager to have him back at the BAU, but deep down she knew it was more than that. And she was beginning to see, whether she liked it or not, that something had shifted since the night they'd spent together.

She loved Will- there was no doubt about it in her mind. However, she couldn't deny there was something different about the way she felt about Spencer. Like it or not- JJ realized, she had feelings she couldn't quite make go away.

"What are you biting your lip at?" Emily broke her thoughts.

JJ wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there, fighting a lusty smirk.

"What?" she feigned.

The brunette dropped her wide smile, and pretended to frown, "Is a certain detective on your mind?"

She scoffed, "What? No. That's ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous?" Morgan piped in, reading through a file in his hands.

Prentiss crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows over to her, "JJ has a boyfriend."

Instantly, she felt her cheeks get warm, and turned away from them while shaking her head, "Amazing- here we have an unsub kidnapping grannies, and we're stuck on my love life."

"It's going to come out sooner or later," Emily called out after her in a sing-song voice.

JJ began to walk away, pretending she had something to do, though it was only to get away from Emily's prying. But as she made it to the door of Detective Camarillo's office, Hotch came out with a concerning frown.

Her smile immediately dropped, "What is it?"

Hotch handed over a manila folder, "The last case we were on- we arrested the wrong person."

xxxoxxxo

Meanwhile

The fire in Reid's back had returned.

It ached from his spine to the front of his stomach, sending a pulsating pain. The vibration fluctuated from burning to an ice-like sensation, causing his lungs to feel as if they were frozen.

He held his breath, racing through his thoughts of ways to remedy his pain, knowing he'd read about holistic pain relief in some book a few years back. However, every time he breathed in, smelled Lila's coconut scented body wash, and felt her bare skin rubbing against his in her sleep, it would distract his thinking.

Instead he thought back to the night before, the tangled limbs, heavy breathing, the warmth of her body under his, her lips on his. It all seemed like a blur, as if someone else had possessed him. There was no question he'd enjoyed it, even his injuries had taken a backseat during the night.

But part of him felt strange, uncomfortable, laying next to Lila. Mostly, the pain had returned and magnified. As much as he wanted to move to alleviate the throb in his back, he didn't want to risk disturbing Lila in her slumber. But also, there was something else from last night leaving him with a feeling reminiscent of when he used to shoot up Dilaudid- like he'd done something wrong.

Reid turned over to look at her, some of her hair was over her face, but her slightly open mouth confirmed she was still asleep.

Without warning, a jolt went through his back and he grit his teeth to stop himself from yelling. He labored his breathing, and stayed still for a moment, willing the pain away and truly wondering if it would ever go away. It had been over two weeks since he'd gotten stabbed, and from what he'd read more than enough time for the worst part of the pain to go away.

"Hey- what's wrong?" came the groggy voice of Lila.

Reid's eyes shot open, blinking rapidly, attempting to mask his pain with a smile, "I was wondering when you'd wake up."

Though, when she sat on her elbows, he could tell Lila wasn't fooled by his distraction, "Are you ok?"

"What?- of course," he laughed, avoiding her eyes and searching for where Lila had thrown his briefs the night before.

Once he found them, Reid worked quickly to put them on, without much of a chance for her to see anything.

"You're in pain, aren't you?" Her voice wasn't accusatory, but instead laced with worry.

"I'm fine," he laughed nervously, as a sharp pain explode on the right side of his stomach when he bent down to grab his t-shirt.

Lila was silent then, but he didn't take comfort in it. He knew her quietness was only due to her thinking. Still, there was a small part of him that hoped if he could go on as everything was ok, then maybe she'd believe it and leave it alone.

"Do-you want to get breakfast?" he asked slipping on his trousers, without looking at her. She'd let the sheet covering her bare chest drop, and though he'd seen almost every inch of her the night before, it felt awkward to see her her naked now.

"Spencer- look at me," she called from the bed.

He winced, "Can you pull the sheet up?"

"You're joking right?…you know what? I wont- look at me."

Reid sighed, but gave in and turned to look at her, unable to move his eyes away from her peach areolas.

"It's like you've never seen breasts before," but as it came out, Reid noticed her frown, "Wait- was last night your fir-"

Before she could even finish, he spoke up, "No- believe it or not, I'm not a virgin."

He winced as the words came out, licking his lips and unable to stop the pain from showing on his features.

"You're in serious pain," Lila said more to herself than him, as she quickly got up from the bed, unfazed by the fact she was completely naked.

She rushed to his side, and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Do you want me to get you something for the pain?"

"No- I'm fine," Reid insisted.

Lila frowned looking away from him for a moment, before moving her eyes back up to him, "I haven't seen you take anything for your pain since I got here, why?"

Reid laughed and turned away, making his way into his kitchen, "Because I'm fine."

Of course he knew the contrary was true, yet he wasn't going to admit it. Instead, he busied himself with taking their leftover takeout from the night before and placing in the microwave to heat it up. It was actually one of his guilty pleasures, eating Thai for breakfast. In fact, a little known fact about Reid was his obsession with asian cuisine. There just wasn't anything quite like it.

But as he kept a careful eye on the timer of the microwave, he noticed through his peripheral view, as Lila searched his kitchen drawers.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, watching as she opened all the drawers, still bare.

An uncontrollable smirk made its way on to his lips. If anyone would have told him Lila Archer would one day be naked in his kitchen looking through his drawers, Reid would've never believed it. Still, it just went to show that one never quite knew what to expect.

"I know I saw them in here earlier," she murmured.

"Saw what?"

"Jackpot! Here, " she said, tossing him an orange prescription bottle- he barely caught it as it fumbled in his hands.

"Lila- I," he paused to lick his lips and read the script for dilaudid on the bottle- the pill form.

And for a fraction of a second, Reid thought of how coincidental it was that out of all the different types of pain medication, he'd been prescribed his drug of choice.

It was almost poetic.

But a voice went off in his head like a warning and he placed the bottle down on the counter, "-it's the wrong one."

"It said pain medication," she argued picking it back up.

He had already moved away, and began walking towards his medicine cabinet though, placing a hand over the side of his aching stomach. Behind him, Reid could hear Lila's footsteps quickly trailing him into the bathroom. Without hesitation he pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen from the cupboard.

"Isn't-this-stronger?" Lila asked him, while watching him dry swallow two of the white ibuprofen pills.

He shrugged, "this is fine."

"Spencer-" she slowly let out, frowning and with her eyes still on him.

Reid felt uncomfortable, and realized she knew something was odd. But he refused to tell her- he refused to tell anyone else.

Just as Lila opened her mouth to say something else, her phone began to ring and she sighed, before walking off to answer it.

Relief washed over him, before his own cell phone began to _ping_ with messages, but before he could get it, his home phone and he rushed to get it- noticing the familiar phone number from his mother's hospital, "Hello?"

"Dr. Reid? It's Doctor Norman," the older man's voice was tentative and nervous.

A frown etched on his face, "Yes? What is it? Is my mom ok?"

There was a defining pause, and Reid could hear as words caught in his throat, "-Yes. However, we were hoping you could come out to see her soon."

"What's going on?" He asked again, as he began gathering his socks and shoes.

"It's rather sensitive- I would prefer to speak to you in person."

He stopped what he was doing, "Dr Norman, no offense but this is my mom."

The doctor paused again and Reid heard him breath into the phone, "I'm afraid your mother suffered a psychotic break, she attempted to kill herself."

xxxoxxxo

 _Earlier_

Portland, Oregon

"What do you mean we got the wrong unsub? I caught her myself- she admitted the girls deserved what happened to them, " Morgan argued.

"I knew something didn't feel right in there," Rossi pitched in.

JJ couldn't remember the last time he'd looked so upset, because she understood what it meant if they'd caught the wrong person- Reid was still in danger.

Hotch shook his head and blinked with his unwavering stoic expression, "Another message was left at Lila Archer's home earlier today."

He placed the picture on the white board for everyone to read.

The text was typed in yellow ink on a black note card:

 _He's mine Bella. He's always been mine, and your labour on the conquest of his love will be lost._

JJ eyed Prentiss as she stepped forward to look at the note, "If this is from our unsub, then who did we arrest?"

"Is Lila ok?" JJ interjected.

Hotch nodded, "Her agent confirmed she wasn't at her home at the time the note was delivered. However, he would not disclose her current location."

"Why not?" Morgan asked, crossing his arms.

"I don't know, all he'd say was that she was safe."

The atmosphere was tense, and Morgan let out a sigh, "Prentiss has a point though- if the girl we caught isn't the unsub, they at least have to have some connection."

"Has the local police department been notified?" Rossi asked.

"The LAPD has already began coordinating a perimeter watch around both James Ford and Lila Archer's homes. As we are still in the middle of this case, I'm sending you Morgan along with Prentiss to work with the LAPD. Rossi, myself and JJ will stay behind to continue working this case."

Both Morgan and JJ nodded while Prentiss crossed her arms, "We could really another hand right now."

Hotch looked at her, "If you're suggesting Reid-"

"-We should at least ask him," Morgan agreed.

But he shook his head, "I'd like Reid back just as much as the rest of you, and I agree we could use his help. But bringing him back before he's been cleared for the field isn't the right call. Besides he won't be objective-"

"Shouldn't he know we caught the wrong person?" JJ asked him.

Hotch nodded curtly, "I've already got Garcia on that…the plane is waiting to take you to LA now. JJ I need you to coordinate with Garcia with the information we've gathered on this case. See if she can narrow down our suspect list."

JJ took a deep breath and walked into a conference room, while putting a hand through her hair. It was moments like then, which she wondered why she'd chosen the BAU. Sometimes the stress seemed boundless, as if it never ended.

She swallowed and licked her lips before dialing Garcia.

" _Tech Goddess here to assist you!"_

"Hotch needs you to shorten the suspect list," her tone was flat as she paced the empty, yellow painted room.

There was silence on the other line for a second, before Garcia spoke, " _You know huh?"_

"That we didn't catch the last unsub? Yeah- it just sucks knowing that the person who almost killed Reid is still out there- where you able to get ahold of him?"

 _"_ _Sadly, no. I was however, able to get ahold of Miss Archer. Guess where she was?"_

"Where?" asked JJ.

Garcia let out a chortle, _"Reid's apartment- she answered the phone."_

"What? Really?"

 _"_ _Our little boy is finally growing up!"_

JJ blinked, unsure of how to respond.

For a few seconds Garcia was quiet, and JJ assumed she was just working on their current case, but then she spoke up.

" _Have you ever wondered what Reid would look like without a shirt?_ " Garcia asked her over the phone.

She blinked, "No...is this somehow related to the case we're working on?"

" _It's part of the case I'm working on. Maybe if someone gets enough ADIOS's into him..._ "

JJ's mouth dropped open a bit, before she scrunched her eyes, "You know."

" _Of course I know!_ " Garcia screeched on the other side of the line, "- _how could you keep this from me?_ "

"But…how?" she asked in broken sentences, the shock too much for her to grasp.

"Morgan, Prentiss, and I pieced it together?" she offered timidly.

JJ pinched the bridge of her nose as it flared, "What do you mean- Morgan you and Prentiss pieced it together?"

" _Well…Reid told Morgan he had a one-night stand the night of my birthday, and you told Prentiss and I he slept over- it wasn't hard after that. I'm confused though, what happened to Mr Southern Charm?"_

Whatever feelings she'd been struggling over Spencer seemed to evaporate at that moment. Instead they were replaced by wrath. Hadn't they agreed on saying he slept over if the issue arose? He'd been the one to come up with the idea after all. Which is why JJ couldn't understand why he'd gone and told Morgan something different.

" _JJ?"_

Her thoughts had been so consumed by her anger towards Reid, she'd forgotten Garcia was still on the phone, "Yeah, I'm here. Call me back when you have results."

* * *

 _Coming Soon:_

 _"_ _You lied to me", she accused him, with her arms crossed and looking down at her shoes._

 _Reid swallowed, his heart thumping fast, "JJ- I…I'm sorry."_

 _But she shook her head and swallowed, sniffing, "It's too late."_


	10. Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby

I'm the worst at updating. I do apologize. Sometimes life just gets in the way. However, with Reid's new arc in season 12 I feel a jolt of inspiration to finish this fic (though its not anywhere near being done). Hopefully some of you are still reading this. J'espère que tu aimes!

* * *

 **Limerence**

 _Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep, And yet a third of life is passed in sleep_. – **_Lord Byron_**

 **Chapter Neuf:** Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby

One of the first things Reid researched when deciding what hospital to place his mom in, was the doctor who would be treating her. He'd gone through dozens of different hospitals, even thought about placing her in one close to Quantico. Ultimately though he decided against it because the familiarity of Las Vegas was important to her.

It was the second to last hospital in which Reid found Dr. Norman. When he'd stepped into his office Reid had just known. It was small details he liked, like the letters from patients he kept on his bookshelves, drawings framed on the walls, and picture frames of his family on his desk.

But Reid didn't like visits in which involved having to be in his office, because they were never good. The truth was, even visiting his mother at her Psychiatric hospital filled him with apprehension, and always made him feel uncomfortable. It didn't have to do with his mother, but instead the familiarity he felt simply being there. The danger of being the next patient admitted always hung in the back of his mind as a probability.

The tight leather seat beneath him creaked as he moved, and he found the wooden backrest rough against his bandaged wounds. At one point when he moved, Reid could feel one of his stitches dig deep into his back. He tilted his head back and took a deep breath to fight an urge to groan, remembering he'd forgotten his ibuprofen at home- not that it'd done much to dull his pain.

He could feel his heart was racing- something it had been doing since he'd left DC that morning. Reid knew it was from the pain, but he was determined to get through it without having to resort to anything stronger than aspirin.

"Spencer?" Dr. Norman called him from the door of the waiting room. He was a tall balding man with a kind face. He sighed when he shook Reid's hand.

"How's my mom doing?"

Dr. Norman pursed his lips and shook his head a couple times in distress, "This last episode has really taken its toll on her. She's convinced her daughter came to visit her, Rowena."

Reid grimaced, licking his lips feeling a time-lapse in how dizzy he felt after standing up. Out of nowhere a wave of nausea washed over him, and felt the oncoming's of a cold sweat. But when he caught Dr. Norman looking at him strangely, he cleared his throat and stood up straight, "Rowena?"

It wasn't the first time his mother had mentioned having a daughter by the name of Rowena during one of her episodes. Of course, after her psychotic breaks would be over, she'd deny the existence of another child. Still, there was always a lingering curiosity over the possibility of having a sibling in the back of his head.

"Would you like to see her?"

"Yes."

As they both started for the door of Dr. Norman's office, a nurse opened the door, "Sorry to interrupt, but there's a Penelope Garcia on the phone for Dr. Reid."

xxxoxxxo

Reid sighed, he'd forwarded three of her calls since he'd left DC that morning. He had no doubt it was something important, but he couldn't put his job before his mom right now. And he wasn't surprised she'd called him there, Garcia was one of the only ones who knew about his mother's condition.

"I'll give you a moment," Dr. Norman said, as he walked out of his office and closed the door behind him.

Reid paused and inhaled before picking up the receiver, "Hello?"

" _Finally I found you! Do you know how worried we've all been?"_

His eyes traveled throughout the doctor's office, as if Garcia could somehow tell he was lying, "Sorry, I didn't know."

 _"I spoke to Lila when I called your apartment Romeo. She told me you just vanished and we didn't know what to think."_

His patience was thinning, "Was there a reason you wanted to talk to me Garcia?"

 _"Yes. One, to make sure you're ok because someone delivered another threatening note to Lila's door. Apparently we got the wrong unsub-"_

"Wait. Morgan told me he'd caught the unsub at James Ford's house."

 _"We all thought he did too, but she turned out to be a decoy. The person who stabbed you is still out there."_

Reid sat down and inhaled deeply, feeling the lingering pain in his stab wounds at the mention of his assailant. Another thought popped into his head then, "Did you send someone for Lila, at my apartment?"

 _"That's the other reason I was calling you. Lila was on a flight back to LA today. We had two officer's pick her up, but they never got to her house. She's been missing for two hours."_

The image of his mom sitting in her room and looking out into thin air ran through his mind. She was waiting for him, expecting his visit, his comfort. All things he'd gone there to do. The difference now was she wasn't in critical condition; it was Lila who needed him.

With a last breath, Reid stood up and rubbed his tired eyes, "Ok. I'm on my way to the airport."

xxxoxxxo

Later

LAX

After finding the unsub kidnapping grandmothers in Portland, JJ and the rest of the BAU left to join Morgan and Prentiss in LA. Both she and Morgan were tasked with picking up Reid at LAX. And for a moment she'd wondered if Hotch had sent her on purpose, did he know what had transpired in the last month? As soon as the thought had crossed her mind, JJ threw it out noting her paranoia.

"What's with you?" Morgan asked, keeping his aviator covered face on the out coming traffic from the terminal, while they waited in their black SUV.

"What do you mean? The fact that we haven't gotten an uninterrupted weekend off in weeks?"

JJ knew very well what he was talking about. She'd been expecting some type of confrontation from either him or Prentiss after talking to Garcia, but she still wasn't going to let her private life be flaunted like a gossip magazine. For all intents and purposes she was determined to pivot the conversation in any other direction.

She felt him turn towards her and laughed, "I know what you mean. When this case is over, I'm not leaving my bed for days. Hey is that our boy?"

JJ inadvertently looked up to see a tall, lanky, pale man trip out of the exit of the terminal. She stifled a laugh and bit her lip, looking back down at her phone as Reid approached their car.

"You okay there?" Morgan asked Reid as he got into the car in a huff.

Behind her, Reid closed the door and she could hear the noise of the seatbelt zipping out and the click as he fastened it. He was silent for a couple more seconds, unamused by Morgan's subtle teasing. JJ had yet to say anything to him, but wasn't even sure what to say. She was still angry over what he'd said to Morgan, yet worried about his more than usual disheveled appearance.

An audible exhale could be heard from where she sat. Reid spoke up, "Have you guys gotten any leads on Lila?"

"No," JJ said.

"I was thinking we could go talk to her boyfriend, James Ford," Reid suggested.

Morgan's hands tightened on the steering wheel and JJ turned over to lock eyes with him for a moment, before he spoke up and looked at Reid through the rearview mirror.

"Look kid…we didn't ask you out here to help out with the case."

"What are you talking about?"

"There was another note left at Lila's house. This time it addressed to you," Morgan chose his words carefully.

xxxoxxxo

LAPD

S,

 _How could you have forgotten about me? Did Yale mean nothing? First this blondie, then the other? All of this is for you._

 _R_

"The note was delivered with a bouquet of dandelions and gardenia flowers," Rossi added, placing the note down on the cold metal table for Reid to look at.

He was at a loss of what to say, partly because the pain from stitches on his back were distracting him.

"Any idea what she means?" Hotch asked.

"Are we sure it's about me?" Reid asked back, unconvinced.

As he looked around at his quiet team, Reid realized there was more they were keeping from him. His eyes met Hotch's stern and stiff demeanor, "What is it?"

JJ stepped forward handing him an old copy of _Celebrity Sneak Peak_ with him and Lila on the cover; from the time they'd first arrested her murderous stalker Maggie. Their unsub had circled him with a red pen, and the indents from the pen ripped through the page. Lila's face was scratched off, and in an angry font was the word _SLUT!_ underlined repeatedly.

"Reid? Do you have any idea who would do this?" Prentiss asked him softly.

His eyes scanned the page and he took a moment to breathe, shaking his head just as Detective Kim walked up to them with a sullen face and holding something.

"This was just delivered by postal boy outside the station. He was given instructions to deliver it to Dr. Reid."

The package Detective Kim placed on the table was a yellow crinkled manila folder. Reid took his time to examine the folder before picking it up with his trembling fingers. Inside was a bloodied blonde strand of hair tied together by a thin yellow ribbon and a polaroid picture of Lila covered in blood with lacerations on her arms. At the bottom of the picture the unsub had written.

 _Bring him to me, it won't be too long until he needs me._ _Or Spencer knows who the next blonde will be. - R_

"Next blonde? Any idea what that means?" Reid felt Rossi's eyes on him.

He stood up without making eye contact with anyone, "Excuse me."

Reid slipped past Rossi and Morgan to the back of the LAPD police department and into the bathroom. All the while his heart felt as if it would rip out of his chest from how heavy it pounded. He was aware that in about ten seconds Morgan would walk through the bathroom door to check on him, and he genuinely hoped he would still be conscious, because the entire room was going dark. The more he thought about the picture, the harder it was becoming to breathe. The truth was, it was all overwhelming; a sentiment he wasn't entirely familiar with.

More importantly, the unsub's note terrified him. _Spencer knows who the next one will be_. He was smart enough to realize who the unsub was talking about, JJ. But he couldn't understand how she knew about their night together.

As he splashed water on his face, Reid heard the door being swung open behind him.

"Hey Kid."

It was Morgan.

"I'm fine. I just needed some water," he explained, shaking his hands to expel the excess water on them.

"Reid."

"I was thinking, do you think Garcia can send us a GPS of where the van with Lila and the two agents were last seen?"

"Reid."

The room was spinning again, his limbs felt heavy, and the ache in his back turned icy. It was a new sensation he was sure wasn't good. And Morgan harassing him wasn't helping with the acidic taste in his mouth.

"What?" he asked after a moment. Reid swallowed and turned around to face his partner, who didn't look angry or upset, but scared.

Morgan's mouth hung slightly open, as if something had shocked and terrified him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Morgan started towards him, and Reid instinctively took a step back until he crashed against the sink. His partner took him by the shoulder and turned him around to touch the part of his back which he'd felt turn icy. Morgan placed two fingers on the spot and Reid winced in pain. When he brought them up, he could see why. He was bleeding from his wound.

Xxxoxxxo

Ceders-Sinai Hospital

"I'm fine. I don't need anything," he insisted, removing the patches from his chest and pulling the breathing mask off. Dr. Brontë had stitched his wound and patched him up. Still, she along with Morgan were attempting to convince him to stay.

No one moved to do anything, but when he sat up on the bed ready to stand, Morgan put his hand against his chest to stop him, "Reid, you need to stay and have Dr. Brontë check you out."

The petite blond doctor smiled between both of them, "It's in your best interest."

"I feel fine and I can't stay here while that unsub is out there with Lila," he argued, attempting to move away Morgan's determined hand.

He didn't feel fine and knew they could see it, but finding the unsub who was terrorizing him was more important than his sniffles and fatigue. Maybe they weren't dating, but he still felt responsibility for Lila's wellbeing.

Dr. Brontë approached him with the two pills and a glass of water, "Please?"

"I told you, I don't want narcotics- I'll take anything else," he maintained, shaking his head.

She sighed, her British accent prominent as she spoke, "We tried the 'anything else', but your heart rate is bordering on dangerous, which tells me you're still in pain. If we don't lower it and let the rest of your body rest, you won't be able to fight off the infection and you'll get progressively worse."

He was quiet, and kept his eyes on the bedsheets, deliberating what she said. He understood that she was right, but after being hospitalized for the stab wounds the first time, it had brought back a dangerous nostalgic desire.

"Look kid, I know you don't want to do this-"

Reid shook his head and looked up at his partner, "That's the problem, I really do."

Morgan's expression softened, and he turned over to the doctor, "Can you two give us a minute?"

Dr. Brontë nodded and placed both the pills and water on his tray, rubbing her left arm as left them alone. Reid didn't look at Morgan, he felt too ashamed to talk about his addiction.

"Spencer...it's not your fault."

"And because it's not my fault I should give in?" he scoffed, with his lips trembling.

Morgan sighed, "What I mean is- Tobias Hankel did this to you, you didn't ask for it. And no one is going to judge you for relieving your pain now."

Flashes of the night in the cemetery, when the team found him right after shooting Tobias, went through his mind. It was involuntary, but waves of euphoria went through him, remembering the two vials he'd taken from him.

"I took it."

Morgan frowned, "What are you talking about?"

Reid swallowed and avoided his eyes, playing instead with his fingers on the end of the bed sheet, "The vials. What he used to drug me. When I asked Gideon to give me a moment alone with Tobias…it was because I needed you guys away to take the vials from his pocket. Do you see? I don't have self-control."

There was an audible sigh which expelled from Morgan's body, and he brought a hand up to his shoulder to soothe him, "Reid. You were drugged and tortured for two days. You weren't in the right state of mind. Whatever you did, it wasn't your fault. I won't let that happen again. I promise."

After a moment, Morgan grabbed the paper cup with the two pills in it, and handed it to Reid with a plastic cup of water. He took it, and deliberated for a moment, before giving in and swallowing the pills.

"Everything is going to be fine. We'll find Lila and the unsub. Just get some rest."

Rest. At the word, his body automatically gave in, and he let himself fall back against the squeaky hospital mattress.

xxxoxxxo

Meanwhile

"Since when did you start biting your nails? Isn't that Emily's job?" Morgan asked in a joking manner as he made his way back from Reid's hospital room.

It amazed her how no matter what circumstance they were in, that he could manage to lighten the mood. JJ couldn't. All she could think about was the fact that the unsub could be talking about her. About how she hadn't spoken up when both Rossi and Hotch had questioned Reid about who the unsub could be referring to, or how she'd avoided making eye contact with him.

JJ stood up as Morgan approached her, and she crossed her arms, "How's Spence?"

"Overwhelmed, as should be expected. He was refusing to take the pain medication. He's afraid he won't be able to stop. Add that to the fact Lila's missing, he's become her target, and his mom, the kid has every right to be shaken up. He's getting rest now though, hopefully he'll be able to think straight once he gets some sleep."

When JJ swallowed, for a moment she felt as if she might gag. The tension in her chest was becoming too much too. Maybe she couldn't tell Rossi or Hotch, but Morgan she could confine in, "Derek…I think I know who the unsub was referring to in the note."

His brows furrowed a bit, "I know."

JJ's eyes were moist and her voice cracked, "I just don't get how… _she_ found out. We never spoke of it. It was an accident-"

"Hey, hey, calm down. We're going to catch whoever's doing this. You're safe, Reid's safe and we're going to find Lila."

"I know we will. But it doesn't make sense how the unsub found out about me and Reid."

Morgan shrugged, "Maybe she had his apartment wiretapped. We have Anderson checking out his apartment right now."

JJ closed her eyes and shook her head in awe that she was being so forthcoming with details of what had happened, "No. It didn't happen at his apartment. That's why Spencer slept over at my place, because he didn't have keys to his place."

"Maybe he was being followed that night. After all we found out about the case the next morning, and we know the unsub was working with one partner. Maybe she had two?"

Like a tsunami, the antiseptic smell, and beeping noises coming from the closest hospital room to them, JJ remembered the conversation she'd had with Reid right after he'd woken up.

 _JJ nodded and sniffed her nose, wiping away some tears and looked down for a moment, before turning back up to look at him, "I know, but I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if we lost you and I didn't tell you the truth…You were right, I did lie to you. I told you nothing happened the night you slept over, when-something did. I didn't want to admit it because…of the guilt."_

 _He licked his lips, and whispered, "It wasn't your fault."_

 _"Well-that's debatable. But that's not even the point, I pushed you away and I lied because, I didn't want it to be real. Not because it wasn't good- because we both know that it wasn't bad-"_

"It was here," She whispered.

"What?"

Her mouth went dry and JJ looked up at Morgan, "Derek, what did the note say? The last one the unsub sent Reid at the station?"

He frowned, "She said… _Bring him to me, it won't be too long until he needs me._

 _Or Spencer knows who the next one will be._ "

"She said it won't be too long until he _needs_ me. She overheard Reid and I speak after he woke up. She has to be a nurse or a doctor or something."

Morgan sprinted for Reid's room and JJ followed after him, pulling her gun from her holster. But as they made it to the door of his room, they realized they were too late. The hospital bed Reid had been in only minutes before was gone.


End file.
